Substrate Specificity of Pyrophosphate:Fructose 6-Phosphate 1-Phosphotransferase from Potato Tuber

The aim of this work was to establish the precise ionic form of the reactants used by pyrophosphate:fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase. The enzyme was purified to near-homogeneity from potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers. Changes in enzyme activity when the pH of the assay and the concentration of fructose 6-phosphate, pyrophosphate, and magnesium are varied independently indicate that fructose 6-$\text{phosphate}^{2-}$ and $\text{MgP}_{2}\text{O}_{7}{}^{2-}$ are the reacting species in the glycolytic direction. Analogous experiments with fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, inorganic phosphate, and magnesium demonstrate that the enzyme uses fructose 1,6-$\text{bisphosphate}^{4-}$, $\text{HPO}_{4}{}^{2-}$, and Mg2+ in the gluconeogenic direction. The ionic species used in the glycolytic direction are comparable with those required by bacterial ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase. This is consistent with the proposal that the active site of pyrophosphate:fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase in plants is equivalent to that of the bacterial phosphofructokinase (SM Carlisle et al. [1990] J Biol Chem 265: 18366-18371).