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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Spectrophotometric Methods for the Study of Eukaryotic Glycogen Metabolism
Published on: August 19, 2021
Only plant-type (GLYK) glycerate kinases produce d-glycerate 3-phosphate
Oliver Bartsch1, Martin Hagemann, Hermann Bauwe
1Department of Plant Physiology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Strasse 3, D-18059 Rostock, Germany.
Abstract:
D-Glycerate kinases (GK) occur in three phylogenetically distinct classes. Class II GKs produce glycerate 2-phosphate, while both class I GK and class III GK (GLYK) are thought to produce glycerate 3-phosphate. We report on the identification of a bacterial-type class I GK in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 and of a plant-type GLYK in the filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. strain PCC 7120. The comparison with other prokaryotic and eukaryotic GKs of both classes shows that glycerate 3-phosphate is produced only by the GLYKs, but, in contrast to current thinking, not by any of the examined class I enzymes.
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