In archaea a novel type of glycolytic pathway exists that is deviant from the classical Embden-Meyerhof pathway. This pathway utilises two novel proteins: an ADP-dependent Glucokinase and an ADP-dependent Phosphofructokinase. This conserved region is present at the C-terminal of both these proteins. Interestingly this family contains sequences from higher eukaryotes. [1,2,3].

1: Molecular and biochemical characterization of the ADP-dependent phosphofructokinase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus. Tuininga JE, Verhees CH, van der Oost J, Kengen SW, Stams AJ, de Vos WM; J Biol Chem 1999;274:21023-21028. PMID:10409652

2: ADP-dependent phosphofructokinases in mesophilic and thermophilic methanogenic archaea. Verhees CH, Tuininga JE, Kengen SW, Stams AJ, van der Oost J, de Vos WM; J Bacteriol 2001;183:7145-7153. PMID:11717273

3: Sequencing, expression, characterisation and phylogeny of the ADP-dependent phosphofructokinase from the hyperthermophilic, euryarchaeal Thermococcus zilligii. Ronimus RS, de Heus E, Morgan HW; Biochim Biophys Acta 2001;1517:384-391. PMID:11342216