Glyceraldehyde dehydrogenases from the thermoacidophilic euryarchaeota Picrophilus torridus and Thermoplasma acidophilum, key enzymes of the non-phosphorylative Entner-Doudoroff pathway, constitute a novel enzyme family within the aldehyde dehydrogenase superfamily.

Cells of Picrophilus torridus, grown on glucose, contained all enzyme activities of a non-phosphorylative Entner-Doudoroff pathway, including glucose dehydrogenase, gluconate dehydratase, 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate aldolase, glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase (GADH), glycerate kinase (2-phosphoglycerate forming), enolase and pyruvate kinase. GADH was purified to homogeneity. The 115-kDa homodimeric protein catalyzed the oxidation of glyceraldehyde with NADP+ at highest catalytic efficiency. NAD+ was not used. By MALDI-TOF analysis, open reading frame (ORF) Pto0332 was identified in the genome of P. torridus as the encoding gene, designated gadh, and the recombinant GADH was characterized. In Thermoplasma acidophilum ORF Ta0809 represents a gadh homolog with highest sequence identity; the gene was expressed and the recombinant protein was characterized as functional GADH with properties very similar to the P. torridus enzyme. Sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis define both GADHs as members of novel enzyme family within the aldehyde dehydrogenase superfamily.