The Luisi and Ralser Groups have published a new paper in Open Biology.
Ben Luisi's and Markus Ralser's groups have jointly published a paper in Open Biology entitled "Inhibition of triosephosphate isomerase by phosphoenolpyruvate in the feedback-regulation of glycolysis".
The inhibition results in a newly discovered feedback loop that counters oxidative stress in cancer and actively respiring cells. The mechanism underlying this inhibition is illuminated by the crystal structure of TPI with bound PEP, and by mutational studies. PEP is bound to the catalytic pocket of TPI and occludes the substrate, which accounts for the observation that PEP competitively inhibits the interconversion of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and dihydroxyacetone phosphate. Replacing an isoleucine residue located in the catalytic pocket of TPI with valine or threonine altered binding of substrates and PEP, reducing TPI activity in vitro and in vivo. Confirming a TPI-mediated activation of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), transgenic yeast cells expressing these TPI mutations accumulate greater levels of PPP intermediates and have altered stress resistance, mimicking the activation of the PK–TPI feedback loop. These results support a model in which glycolytic regulation requires direct catalytic inhibition of TPI by the pyruvate kinase substrate PEP, mediating a protective metabolic self-reconfiguration of central metabolism under conditions of oxidative stress.