What is the Difference Between Phosphorylase and Phosphatase

The key difference between phosphorylase and phosphatase is that phosphorylase enzymes catalyze the reaction involving the transfer of phosphate groups between compounds, whereas phosphatase enzymes catalyze the reactions involving the removal of a phosphate group from a compound forming phosphate ion and an alcohol byproduct.

Phosphorylase and phosphatase are two different enzymes that are involved in catalyzing biochemical reactions, which include the substrates with phosphate groups.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Phosphorylase  
3. What is Phosphatase
4. Phosphorylase vs Phosphatase in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Phosphorylase vs Phosphatase 

What is Phosphorylase?

Phosphorylase is an enzyme that catalyzes the addition of a phosphate group to a phosphate acceptor. In this reaction, phosphorylase adds this phosphate group from an inorganic phosphate. Phosphorylases include allosteric enzymes that can catalyze the production of glucose-1-phosphate from a substrate such as a glucan.

Phosphorylase enzymes belong to the enzyme class of transferases. This is because these enzymes transfer phosphate functional groups from one compound to another. There are different types of phosphorylase enzymes, such as Glycosyltransferases and Nucleotidyltransferases. However, there are two kinds of phosphorylases as phosphorylase a and phosphorylase b. among them, and phosphorylase a is the more active form.

What is Phosphatase?

Phosphatase is a type of enzyme that uses water to cleave phosphoric acid to get phosphate ion and an alcohol. Therefore, it is an enzyme that removes a phosphate group from a compound. In this reaction, the enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of the substrate, which leads to name it as a subcategory of hydrolases. Moreover, these enzymes are very important in biological systems. The process in which this enzyme takes part is known as dephosphorylation.

In contrast to phosphatases, phosphorylases transfer phosphate groups between compounds, and kinases catalyze the reaction of the transfer of phosphate groups from ATP to molecules. Therefore, phosphatases and kinases are important in post-transitional modification. It is an essential process in a cell’s regulatory network.

Usually, phosphate enzymes catalyze the hydrolysis of phosphomonoesters to remove phosphate moiety from the substrate. In this reaction, a water molecule splits, and the -OH group attaches to the phosphate ion, and the proton (H+ ion) protonates the hydroxyl group of the other byproduct. This reaction causes the destruction of phosphomonoester and creates both phosphate ion and an alcohol molecule having a free hydroxyl group.

Typically, phosphate enzymes are a large class of enzymes, and there are about 104 distinct enzyme families. We can classify these enzymes by substrate specificity and by the sequence homology in catalytic domains. However, all these enzymes in all categories work in the same general principle where they catalyze reactions involving a phosphate group removal from compounds.

What is the Difference Between Phosphorylase and Phosphatase?

Phosphorylase and phosphatase are two different enzymes. The key difference between phosphorylase and phosphatase is that phosphorylase enzymes catalyze the reaction involving the transfer of phosphate groups between compounds, whereas phosphatase enzymes catalyze the reactions involving the removal of a phosphate group from a compound forming phosphate ion and an alcohol byproduct.

The following infographic lists the differences between phosphorylase and phosphatase in tabular form for side by side comparison

Summary – Phosphorylase vs Phosphatase

Phosphorylase and phosphatase are two different enzymes that are involved in catalyzing biochemical reactions, including the substrates with phosphate groups. The key difference between phosphorylase and phosphatase is that phosphorylase enzymes catalyze the reaction involving the transfer of phosphate groups between compounds, whereas phosphatase enzymes catalyze the reactions involving the removal of a phosphate group from a compound forming phosphate ion and an alcohol byproduct.

Reference:

1. “Phosphorylase.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Image Courtesy:

1. “1z8d” By Deposition authors: Lukacs, C.M., Oikonomakos, N.G., Crowther, R.L., Hong, L.N., Kammlott, R.U., Levin, W., Li, S., Liu, C.M., Lucas-McGady, D., Pietranico, S., Reik, L.;visualization author: User:Astrojan – Original Article Here (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Calcineurin” By Parutakupiu talk | contribs – based on PDB ID 2BID, rendered with PyMol (CC BY-SA 2.5) via Commons Wikimedia