InterPro domain: IPR000092

A variety of isoprenoid compounds are synthesized by various organisms. For example in eukaryotes the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway is responsible for the synthesis of a variety of end products including cholesterol, dolichol, ubiquinone or coenzyme Q. In bacteria this pathway leads to the synthesis of isopentenyl tRNA, isoprenoid quinones, and sugar carrier lipids. Among the enzymes that participate in that pathway, are a number of polyprenyl synthetase enzymes which catalyze a 1'4-condensation between 5 carbon isoprene units.

It has been shown [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ] that these enzymes share some regions of sequence similarity. From 3D structure analysis, it was revealed that they also share structure and reaction mechanisms, using similar strategies for substrate binding and catalysis [ 6 ].

1. Elucidation of the deficiency in two yeast coenzyme Q mutants. Characterization of the structural gene encoding hexaprenyl pyrophosphate synthetase. J. Biol. Chem. 265, 13157-64
2. Cloning and nucleotide sequence of the ispA gene responsible for farnesyl diphosphate synthase activity in Escherichia coli. J. Biochem. 108, 995-1000
3. The Neurospora crassa carotenoid biosynthetic gene (albino 3) reveals highly conserved regions among prenyltransferases. J. Biol. Chem. 266, 5854-9
4. Identification of a cDNA for the plastid-located geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase from Capsicum annuum: correlative increase in enzyme activity and transcript level during fruit ripening. Plant J. 2, 25-34
5. The crtE gene in Erwinia herbicola encodes geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89, 6761-4
6. Structure, mechanism and function of prenyltransferases. Eur. J. Biochem. 269, 3339-54