New Assays for Transketolase

Abstract

Given the importance of transketolase, TK (EC 2.2.1.1) for both pharmacological studies and synthetic purposes, the need for a simple and inexpensive assay is patent. We describe here a simple and inexpensive TK assay using the unphosphorylated ketoses L-erythrulose, 4-deoxy-L-erythrulose, and 4-deoxy-D, L-erythrulose as donor substrates instead of D-xylulose-5-phosphate, with D-ribose-5-phosphate as the acceptor substrate.