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Metabolism and Enzymology

Fructose 2,6-Bisphosphate Hydrolyzing Enzymes in Higher Plants ¹

Laboratoire de Chimie Physiologique, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 75, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium, International Institute of Cellular and Molecular Pathology, UCL 75.39, Avenue Hippocrate 75, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium

The phosphatases that hydrolyze fructose 2,6-bisphosphate in a crude spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) leaf extract were separated by chromatography on blue Sepharose, into three fractions, referred to as phosphatases I, II, and III, which were further purified by various means. Phosphatase I hydrolyzed fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, with a K_m value of 30 micromolar, to a mixture of fructose 2-phosphate (90%) and fructose 6-phosphate (10%). It acted on a wide range of substrates and had a maximal activity at acidic pH. Phosphatase II specifically recognized the osyl-link of phosphoric derivatives and had more affinity for the -anomeric form. Its apparent K_m for fructose 2,6-bisphosphate was 30 micromolar. It most likely corresponded to the fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase described by F. D. Macdonald, Q. Chou, and B. B. Buchanan ([1987] Plant Physiol 85: 13-16). Phosphatase III copurified with phosphofructokinase 2 and corresponded to the specific, low-K_m (24 nanomolar) fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase purified and characterized by Y. Larondelle, E. Mertens, E. Van Schaftingen, and H. G. Hers ([1986] Eur J Biochem 161: 351-357). Three similar types of phosphatases were present in a crude extract of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) tuber. The concentration of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate decreased at a maximal rate of 30 picomoles per minute and per gram of fresh tissue in slices of Jerusalem artichoke tuber, upon incubation in 50 millimolar mannose. This rate could be accounted for by the maximal extractable activity of the low-K_m fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase. A new enzymic method for the synthesis of -glucose 1,6-bisphosphate from -glucose 1-phosphate and ATP is described.