| Type: | Family | Name: | Phosphonopyruvate decarboxylase |
| Description: | This entry represents phosphonopyruvate, a decarboxylase enzyme that produces phosphonoacetaldehyde (Pald), which is the second step in the biosynthesis phosphonate-containing compounds. Since the preceding enzymatic step, PEP phosphomutase (AepX, ) favours the substrate PEP energetically, the decarboxylase is required to drive the reaction in the direction of phosphonate production.Pald is a precursor of natural products including antibiotics like bialaphos [] and phosphonothricin [] in Streptomyces species, phosphonate-modified molecules such as the polysaccharide B of Bacteroides fragilis[], the phosphonolipids of Tetrahymena pyriformis[], the glycosylinositolphospholipids of Trypanosoma cruzi[]. This gene generally occurs in prokaryotic organisms adjacent to the gene for AepX. Most often an aminotransferase (aepZ) is also present which leads to the production of the most common phosphonate compound, 2-aminoethylphosphonate (AEP). | Short Name: | Phophono-pyrv_decarboxylase |
