Deciphering the structural basis of the broad substrate specificity of myo-inositol monophosphatase (IMP) from Cicer arietinum

Myo-inositol monophosphatase (IMP) is a crucial enzyme in the inositol biosynthetic pathway that dephosphorylates myo-inositol 1-phosphate and other inositol phosphate derivative compounds to maintain the homeostasis of cellular inositol pool. In our previous research, we have biochemically and functionally characterized IMP enzyme from chickpea (CaIMP), which was able to catalyze diverse substrates. We cloned, overexpressed recombinant CaIMP protein and purified it and further characterized the CaIMP with its three main substrates viz. galactose 1-P, inositol 6-P and fructose 1,6-bisP.