Genomic identification and in vitro reconstitution of a complete biosynthetic pathway for the osmolyte di-myo-inositol-phosphate

-inositol 1,1 -phosphate (DIP) is a major osmoprotectingmetabolite in a number of hyperthermophilic species of archaeaand bacteria. Although the DIP biosynthesis pathway was previ-ously proposed, genes encoding only two of the four requiredenzymes, inositol-1-phosphate synthase and inositol monophos-phatase, were identified. In this study we used a comparativegenomic analysis to predict two additional genes of this pathway(termed