Issue 5, 2010

Why did Nature select phosphate for its dominant roles in biology?

Abstract

Evolution has placed phosphate mono- and diesters at the heart of biology. The enormous diversity of their roles has called for the evolution of enzyme catalysts for phosphoryl transfer that are among the most proficient known. A combination of high-resolution X-ray structure analysis and 19F NMR definition of metal fluoride complexes of such enzymes, that are mimics of the transition state for the reactions catalysed, has delivered atomic detail of the nature of such catalysis for a range of phosphoryl transfer processes. The catalytic simplicity thus revealed largely explains the paradox of the contrast between the extreme stability of structural phosphate esters and the lability of phosphates in regulation and signalling processes. A brief survey of the properties of oxyacids and their esters for other candidate elements for these vital roles fails to identify a suitable alternative to phosphorus, thereby underpinning Todd’s Hypothesis “Where there’s life there’s phosphorus” as a statement of truly universal validity.

Graphical abstract: Why did Nature select phosphate for its dominant roles in biology?

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
30 Nov 2009
Accepted
08 Jan 2010
First published
12 Mar 2010

New J. Chem., 2010,34, 784-794

Why did Nature select phosphate for its dominant roles in biology?

M. W. Bowler, M. J. Cliff, J. P. Waltho and G. M. Blackburn, New J. Chem., 2010, 34, 784 DOI: 10.1039/B9NJ00718K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements