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Updated: Mar 26, 2026

Assaying for Inorganic Polyphosphate in Bacteria
Published on: January 21, 2019
Enzymes of yeast polyphosphate metabolism: structure, enzymology and biological roles
Rūta Gerasimaitė1, Andreas Mayer2
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Ch. des Boveresses 155, 1066 Epalinges, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is found in all living organisms. The known polyP functions in eukaryotes range from osmoregulation and virulence in parasitic protozoa to modulating blood coagulation, inflammation, bone mineralization and cellular signalling in mammals. However mechanisms of regulation and even the identity of involved proteins in many cases remain obscure. Most of the insights obtained so far stem from studies in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here, we provide a short overview of the properties and functions of known yeast polyP metabolism enzymes and discuss future directions for polyP research.
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