Purple acid

phosphatase In biochemistry, a phosphatase is an enzyme that uses water to cleave a phosphoric acid Ester, monoester into a phosphate ion and an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol. Because a phosphatase enzyme catalysis, catalyzes the hydrolysis of its Substrate ...

s (PAPs) () are metalloenzymes that

hydrolyse Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile. Biological hydrolys ...

phosphate

esters In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides are ...

and anhydrides under acidic condition. In their

oxidised Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a d ...

form, PAPs in solution are purple in colour. This is due to the presence of a dinuclear iron centre, to which a

tyrosine -Tyrosine or tyrosine (symbol Tyr or Y) or 4-hydroxyphenylalanine is one of the 20 standard amino acids that are used by cells to synthesize proteins. It is a non-essential amino acid with a polar side group. The word "tyrosine" is from the Gr ...

residue is connected via a charge transfer. This metallic centre is composed of Fe³⁺ and M, where M is Fe³⁺, Zn²⁺, Mg²⁺ or Mn²⁺. The conserved Fe³⁺ is stabilised in the

ferric In chemistry, iron(III) refers to the element iron in its +3 oxidation state. In ionic compounds (salts), such an atom may occur as a separate cation (positive ion) denoted by Fe3+. The adjective ferric or the prefix ferri- is often used to sp ...

form, whereas M may undergo reduction. Upon treatment with mild reductants, PAPs are converted to their enzymatically active, pink form. Treatment with strong reducing agents dissociates the metallic ions, and renders the enzyme colourless and inactive. PAPs are highly conserved within

eukaryotic Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...

species, with >80%

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

homology Homology may refer to: Sciences Biology *Homology (biology), any characteristic of biological organisms that is derived from a common ancestor * Sequence homology, biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences *Homologous chrom ...

in mammalian PAPs, and >70%

sequence homology Sequence homology is the biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences, defined in terms of shared ancestry in the evolutionary history of life. Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of three phenomena: either a spe ...

in PAPs of plant origin. However sequence analysis reveals that there is minimal homology between plant and mammal PAPs (<20%), except for the metal-ligating amino acid residues which are identical. The metallic nucleus of PAPs also varies between plants and mammals. Mammalian PAPs which have been isolated and purified have, to this point, been composed exclusively of iron ions, whereas in plants the metallic nucleus is composed of Fe³⁺ and either Zn²⁺ or Mn²⁺. PAPs have also been isolated in fungi, and DNA sequences encoding for possible PAPs have been identified in

prokaryotic A prokaryote () is a Unicellular organism, single-celled organism that lacks a cell nucleus, nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. The word ''prokaryote'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:πρό#Ancient Greek, πρό (, 'before') a ...

organisms, such as in ''

Cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

spp.'' and ''

Mycobacteria ''Mycobacterium'' is a genus of over 190 species in the phylum Actinomycetota, assigned its own family, Mycobacteriaceae. This genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis ('' M. tuberculosis'') and ...

spp.'' Currently there is no defined nomenclature for this group of enzymes, and a variety of names exists. These include purple acid phosphatase (PAP), uteroferrin (Uf), type 5 acid phosphatase (Acp 5) and

tartrate resistant acid phosphatase Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP or TRAPase), also called acid phosphatase 5, tartrate resistant (ACP5), is a glycosylated monomeric metalloprotein enzyme expressed in mammals. It has a molecular weight of approximately 35kDa, a basic iso ...

(TRAP, TRACP, TR-AP). There is, however, a consensus in the literature that purple acid phosphatase (PAP) relates to those found in non-mammalian species and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) to those found in mammalian species. Uteroferrin, bovine spleen PAP and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase all refer to mammalian PAPs, whereby research on PAPs expressed in various tissues diverged. Subsequent research has proven that all of these enzymes are the same entity.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Biology, border=no EC 3.1.3