User:Myszan/Shelphs

Shelphs
Shewanella-like phosphatases, abbreviated as Shelphs, are a group of enzymes structurally related to protein serine/threonine phosphatases (PPP family1). Unlike the canonical subfamilies found in eukaryotes (PP1, PP2A, calcineurin, PP5 and PPEF/PP71-3), Shelphs span the eukaryote-prokaryote boundary and are found in several genera of proteobacteria, in plants, red algae, fungi and some unicellular parasites, including a causative agent of malaria Plasmodium, Cryptosporidium and kinetoplastids (Trypanosoma and Leishmania species)4.

The prototypic member of the group, a phosphatase from a psychrophilic bacterium Shewanella, has been studied as a model to understand the mechanisms that contribute to the high catalytic efficiency of enzymes from organisms adapted to low temperatures5,6. Although PPP phosphatases in general are serine/threonine specific1, Shewanella phosphatase is tyrosine specific5. One of the two Shelph isoforms in plants is predicted to be located in the chloroplast4.

Due to the absence of Shelphs in humans, these phosphatases have recently attracted attention as potential targets for new antiparasitic drug discovery7-9.