Polyphosphate - High-polymeric Inorganic Polyphosphates

High-polymeric Inorganic Polyphosphates

High-polymeric inorganic polyphosphates were found in living organisms by L. Liberman in 1890. These compounds are linear polymers containing a few to several hundred residues of orthophosphate linked by energy-rich phosphoanhydride bonds.

Previously, it was considered either as “molecular fossil” or as only a phosphorus and energy source providing the survival of microorganisms under extreme conditions. These compounds are now known to also have regulatory roles, and to occur in representatives of all kingdoms of living organisms, participating in metabolic correction and control on both genetic and enzymatic levels. Polyphosphate is directly involved in the switching-over of the genetic program characteristic of the exponential growth stage of bacteria to the program of cell survival under stationary conditions, “a life in the slow line”. They participate in many regulatory mechanisms occurring in bacteria:

• They participate in the induction of rpoS, an RNA-polymerase subunit which is responsible for the expression of a large group of genes involved in adjustments to the stationary growth phase and many stressful agents.
• They are important for cell motility, biofilms formation and virulence.
• Polyphosphates and exopolyphosphatases participate in the regulation of the levels of the stringent response factor, guanosine 5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp), a second messenger in bacterial cells.
• Polyphosphates participate in the formation of channels across the living cell membranes. The above channels formed by polyphosphate and poly-b-hydroxybutyrate with Ca2+ are involved in the transport processes in a variety of organisms.
• An important function of polyphosphate in microorganisms—prokaryotes and the lower eukaryotes—is to handle changing environmental conditions by providing phosphate and energy reserves. Polyphosphates are present in animal cells, and there are many data on its participation in the regulatory processes during development and cellular proliferation and differentiation—especially in bone tissues and brain.

In humans polyphosphates are shown to play a key role in blood coagulation. Produced and released by plateletsthey activate Factor XII which is essential for blood clot formation. Furthermore platelets-derived polyphosphates activate blood coagulation factor XII (Hageman factor) that initiates fibrin formation and the generation of a proinflammatory mediator, bradykinin that contributes to leakage from the blood vessels and thrombosis.