The Molecular Basis of Sulfosugar Selectivity in Sulfoglycolysis

Abstract

The sulfosugar sulfoquinovose (SQ) is produced by essentially all photosynthetic organisms on earth and is metabolized bacteria through the process of sulfoglycolysis. The sulfoglycolytic Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway metabolises SQ to produce dihydroxyacetone phosphate and sulfolactaldehyde and is analogous to the classical Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas glycolysis pathway for the metabolism of glucose-6-phosphate, though the former only provides one C3 fragment to central metabolism, with excretion of the other C3 fragment as dihydroxypropanesulfonate. Here, we report a comprehensive structural and biochemical analysis of the three core steps of sulfoglycolysis catalyzed by SQ isomerase, sulfofru..