A novel mammalian exopolyphosphatase has recently been identified: the DHH superfamily human protein h-prune, which shows high sequence homology to the known PPXs, was shown to be an efficient exopolyphosphatase [43]. However, unlike other PPXs, h-prune hydrolyses only short-chain polyP, but the long-chain polymers rather inhibit the activity of the enzyme. This leaves an open niche for the existence of another enzyme that would cleave long-chain polyP. On
the other hand, endopolyphosphatase (PPN) activity was earlier found in several mammalian tissues by A. Kornberg’s group [26]. The PPN activity was present in rat tissues, particularly in brain, heart, lung and kidney, but the attempts to
identify the protein responsible for this activity have not been successful. Even less is known about mammalian polyP synthases. No mammalian homologs to the known polyP kinases (PPK) have been found in protein databases, and no
enzymes comparable to PPK have been identified. Also, it was reported that in mammalian cells and tissues the synthesis of polyP from Pi bypasses the intracellular pools of Pi and ATP [27], suggesting that the synthesis of polyP in animals
proceeds through a completely distinct enzymatic pathway, compared to one in bacteria and lower eukaryotes.