eprintid: 10091801 rev_number: 14 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/09/18/01 datestamp: 2020-02-20 10:16:04 lastmod: 2021-11-18 23:18:38 status_changed: 2020-02-20 10:16:04 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Desfougères, Y creators_name: Saiardi, A creators_name: Azevedo, C title: Inorganic polyphosphate in mammals: where's Wally? ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C08 divisions: D77 keywords: Cell metabolism, inorganic polyphosphates, phosphate, post translational modification, signalling note: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ abstract: Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is a ubiquitous polymer of tens to hundreds of orthophosphate residues linked by high-energy phosphoanhydride bonds. In prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes, both the presence of polyP and of the biosynthetic pathway that leads to its synthesis are well-documented. However, in mammals, polyP is more elusive. Firstly, the mammalian enzyme responsible for the synthesis of this linear biopolymer is unknown. Secondly, the low sensitivity and specificity of available polyP detection methods make it difficult to confidently ascertain polyP presence in mammalian cells, since in higher eukaryotes, polyP exists in lower amounts than in yeast or bacteria. Despite this, polyP has been given a remarkably large number of functions in mammals. In this review, we discuss some of the proposed functions of polyP in mammals, the limitations of the current detection methods and the urgent need to understand how this polymer is synthesized. date: 2020-02-12 date_type: published official_url: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20190328 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1752556 doi: 10.1042/BST20190328 pii: 222097 lyricists_name: Desfougeres, Yann lyricists_name: Saiardi, Adolfo lyricists_id: YFDES94 lyricists_id: ASAIA50 actors_name: Flynn, Bernadette actors_id: BFFLY94 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Biochemical Society Transactions volume: 2020 article_number: BST20190328 event_location: England citation: Desfougères, Y; Saiardi, A; Azevedo, C; (2020) Inorganic polyphosphate in mammals: where's Wally? Biochemical Society Transactions , 2020 , Article BST20190328. 10.1042/BST20190328 <https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20190328>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10091801/1/bst-2019-0328c.pdf