CMLS, Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 61 (2004) 2471–2484 1420-682X/04/202471-14 DOI 10.1007/s00018-004-4160-6 CMLS Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences © Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2004 Review Galactokinase: structure, function and role in type II galactosemia H. M. Holden a,*, J. B. Thoden a, D. J. Timson b and R. J. Reece c,* a Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (USA), Fax: +1 608 262 1319, e-mail:
[email protected] b School of Biology and Biochemistry, Queen’s University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, (United Kingdom) c School of Biological Sciences, The University of Manchester, The Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, (United Kingdom), Fax: +44 161 275 5317, e-mail:
[email protected] Received 13 April 2004; accepted 7 June 2004 Abstract. The conversion of beta-D-galactose to glucose unnatural sugar 1-phosphates. Additionally, galactoki- 1-phosphate is accomplished by the action of four en- nase-like molecules have been shown to act as sensors for zymes that constitute the Leloir pathway. Galactokinase the intracellular concentration of galactose and, under catalyzes the second step in this pathway, namely the con- suitable conditions, to function as transcriptional regula- version of alpha-D-galactose to galactose 1-phosphate. tors. This review focuses on the recent X-ray crystallo- The enzyme has attracted significant research attention graphic analyses of galactokinase and places the molecu- because of its important metabolic role, the fact that de- lar architecture of this protein in context with the exten- fects in the human enzyme can result in the diseased state sive biochemical data that have accumulated over the last referred to as galactosemia, and most recently for its uti- 40 years regarding this fascinating small molecule ki- lization via ‘directed evolution’ to create new natural and nase.