Abstract:We have identified a novel, conserved phosphatase sequence motif, KXXXXXXRP-(X12.54)-PSGH-(X31.54)-SRXXXXX HXXXD, that is shared among several lipid phosphatases, the mammalian glucose-6-phosphatases, and a collection of bacterial nonspecific acid phosphatases. This sequence was also found in the vanadium-containing chloroperoxidase of Curvularia inaequalis. Several lines of evidence support this phosphatase motif identification. Crystal structure data on chloroperoxidase revealed that all three domains are in close proximity and several of the conserved residues are involved in the binding of the cofactor, vanadate, a compound structurally similar to phosphate. Structurefunction analysis of the human glucose-6-phosphatase has shown that two of the conserved residues (the first domain arginine and the central domain histidine) are essential for enzyme activity. This conserved sequence motif was used to identify nine additional putative phosphatases from sequence databases, one of which has been determined to be a lipid phosphatase in yeast.Keywords: chloroperoxidase; homology; glucose-6-phosphatase; lipid phosphatase; motif; nonspecific acid phosphatase; phosphatase Phosphatases (phosphohydrolases) catalyze the hydrolysis of phosphoester and phosphoanhydride bonds of a diverse set of substrates including phosphorylated sugars, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids (Boyer et al., 1961). Various criteria have been used to classify phosphatases into families. For example, phosphatases are classified on the basis of characteristics such as the molecular nature of the phosphate-containing substrate (phosphomonoester or phosphodiester), substrate type (proteinaceous or non-proteinaceous), substrate specificity (glucose-6-phosphatases, protein-tyrosine phosphatases), pH optimum (acid and alkaline phosphatases), size (high and low molecular weight phosphatases), and on the identity of the enzyme residue that is transiently phosphorylated during catalysis (histidine, serine, and cysteine phosphatases) (Boyer et al