Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase: a key enzyme in isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway and potential molecular target for drug development.

Manoj K Dhar, Archana Koul, Sanjana Kaul

Genome Research Laboratory, School of Biotechnology, University of Jammu, Jammu 180006, India. manojdhar@jammuuniversity.in

New biotechnology 2013 Jan 25

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As isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway has gained importance since last few years, key enzymes of this pathway have been characterized and their functional roles in the cell metabolism have been explored using molecular biology approaches. A key enzyme in this pathway is farnesyl pyrophosphate (EC 2.5.1.10) synthase (FPPS) which supplies precursors for the biosynthesis of essential isoprenoids like carotenoids, withanolides, ubiquinones, dolichols, sterols, among others and also helps in farnesylation and geranylation of proteins. It is a chain elongation enzyme which catalyzes head to tail condensation of two molecules of isopentenyl diphosphate with dimethylallyl diphosphate to form farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP). Recent studies have validated FPPS as a molecular target of bisphosphonates for drug development against tumors as well as human pathogens. The present paper synthesizes the information on characterization, structural and functional relationships, evolution, localization as well as advances on FPPS enzyme as a target for drug development. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Manoj K Dhar, Archana Koul, Sanjana Kaul. Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase: a key enzyme in isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway and potential molecular target for drug development. New biotechnology. 2013 Jan 25;30(2):114-23