Origin of ATP phosphate esters and sulfur thio-esters in early Life

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All life requires energy. One major pathway of energy harvesting in biology is substrate level phosphorylation, which is carried out by the enzyme glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. How this enzyme evolved, and what its original chemical reactivity was remains unknown.In this year we successfully surveyed the chemical reactivity of the enzyme glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase from a thermophilic bacterium. To our surprise, we have identified a new enzymatic reaction which to our knowledge has not been reported before. In addition we find that the conditions of the assay which are being uniquely manipulated within our laboratory can change the reaction kinetics of the enzyme activity in surprising and still not completely understood ways. We are proceeding to draft these results into a manuscript to share with the scientific community.Our results are far reaching. First, they give new insights into the central energy harvesting enzyme of glycolysis which is widely distributed across the tree of life. Second, our results provide new insights which can be used to discuss the possible ancestral activity of this fascinating enzyme which accomplishes substrate phosphorylation.