Computer modeling of two inorganic pyrophosphatases

Abstract

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two inorganic pyrophosphatases that are structurally related. One, PPA1, is a cytoplasmic enzyme. The other, PPA2, is located in the mitochondria and appears to be energy-linked. The sequence similarity of PPA1 and PPA2 is about 66% and the identity is about 50%. All amino acids known to be important for catalysis are conserved, except one glutamate which is substituted by an aspartate in PPA2. The structures of PPA2 and the cytoplasmic PPase from Schizosaccharomyces pombe were modeled based on the three dimensional structure of PPA1. Two cysteines in PPA2 and one in the S. pombe enzyme are located at the catalytic cleft. Four residues form an unique insertion near the entrance of the catalytic cleft in the mitochondrial enzyme.