Nucleotide ester-forming alcoholytic activities of nucleotide pyrophosphatases: implications for practical biotransformation, enzyme mechanisms and biological function

Nucleotide pyrophosphatases (NPP) hydrolyze phosphoanhydride and phosphodie ster derivatives of nucleoside 5'-monophosphates (NMP) yielding NMP as a pr oduct. In a water-alcohol mixture, the alcohol (R-OH) competes and substitu tes for water as the splitting agent, so a mixture of NMP and NMP-O-alkyl e ster (NMP-O-R) is formed. NPPs from snake venom, potato tuber and mammalian tissues have been studied in this regard. Snake and potato NPPs were consi dered as possible practical biocatalysts to synthesize NMP-O-Rs from variou s nucleotidic substrates and alcohols. Mammalian NPPs, mainly from human bl ood and rat Liver, were studied considering the possibility that the alcoho lytic reactions catalyzed by them could be biologically relevant. Valuable information on the active centers and catalytic mechanisms of NPPs was also obtained. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.