Crystal structure of Bifidobacterium Longum phosphoketolase; key enzyme for glucose metabolism in Bifidobacterium
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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Structural Biology and Analytical Chemistry Approaches for Characterizing C-Glycoside Metabolic Enzymes in Human Gut Microbiota
Published on: May 23, 2025
Kazutoshi Takahashi1, Uno Tagami, Nobuhisa Shimba
1Institute of Life Sciences, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., 1-1 Suzuki-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Japan.
Abstract:
The crystal structure of Bifidobacterium longum phosphoketolase, a thiamine diphosphate (TPP) dependent enzyme, has been determined at 2.2A resolution. The enzyme is a dimer with the active sites located at the interface between the two identical subunits with molecular mass of 92.5 kDa. The bound TPP is almost completely shielded from solvent except for the catalytically important C2-carbon of the thiazolium ring, which can be accessed by a substrate sugar through a narrow funnel-shaped channel. In silico docking studies of B. longum phosphoketolase with its substrate enable us to propose a model for substrate binding.
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