[Histidine triad protein superfamily--biological function and enzymatic activity].

The HIT superfamily consists of proteins that share the histidine triad motif, His-X-His-X-His-X-X (where X is a hydrophobic amino acid), which constitutes enzymatic catalytic center. These enzymes act as nucleotidylyl hydrolase or transferase, and the mutation of the second histidine in the triad abolishes their activity. HIT proteins were found ubiquitous in all organisms and they were classified into 5 branches, which are represented by human proteins: HINT1, FHIT, Aprataxin, GALT and DCPS. Because HINT1 orthologs, which belong to the evolutionally oldest family branch, were found from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, it is clear that HIT motif was conserved during the evolution what means that the enzymatic activity is necessary for functions of these proteins. However, in few cases, e.g. HINT1 and FHIT, the connection between the biological function and the enzymatic activity is still obscure. In this review, the relations between biology and activity for 7 HIT proteins, which were found in human, are highlighted.