A cryptic activity in the Nudix hydrolase superfamily

The Nudix hydrolase superfamily is identified by a conserved cassette of 23 amino acids, and it is characterized by its pyrophosphorylytic activity on a wide variety of nucleoside diphosphate derivatives. Of the 13 members of the family in Escherichia coli , only one, Orf180, has not been identified with a substrate, although a host of nucleoside diphosphate compounds has been tested. Several reports have noted a strong similarity in the...