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1. Polyphosphate Adsorption and Hydrolysis on Aluminum Oxides

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b01876  

   Wan, Biao; Huang, Rixiang; Diaz, Julia M.; Tang, Yuanzhi (July 2019, Environmental Science & Technology)
2. Polyphosphate drives bacterial heterochromatin formation

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abk0233  

   Beaufay, Francois; Amemiya, Haley M.; Guan, Jian; Basalla, Joseph; Meinen, Ben A.; Chen, Ziyuan; Mitra, Rishav; Bardwell, James C.; Biteen, Julie S.; Vecchiarelli, Anthony G.; et al (December 2021, Science Advances)

   Heterochromatin is most often associated with eukaryotic organisms. Yet, bacteria also contain areas with densely protein-occupied chromatin that appear to silence gene expression. One nucleoid-associated silencing factor is the conserved protein Hfq. Although seemingly nonspecific in its DNA binding properties, Hfq is strongly enriched at AT-rich DNA regions, characteristic of prophages and mobile genetic elements. Here, we demonstrate that polyphosphate (polyP), an ancient and highly conserved polyanion, is essential for the site-specific DNA binding properties of Hfq in bacteria. Absence of polyP markedly alters the DNA binding profile of Hfq, causes unsolicited prophage and transposon mobilization, and increases mutagenesis rates and DNA damage–induced cell death. In vitro reconstitution of the system revealed that Hfq and polyP interact with AT-rich DNA sequences and form phase-separated condensates, a process that is mediated by the intrinsically disordered C-terminal extensions of Hfq. We propose that polyP serves as a newly identified driver of heterochromatin formation in bacteria. 

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3. Synthesis and Degradation of Polyphosphate: Isotope Effects in Enzyme- and Bacteria-Catalyzed Reactions

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00230  

   Bai, Yuge; Stout, Lisa; Unal-Tosun, Gulcin; Li, Jiying; Jaisi, Deb (December 2020, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry)

   null (Ed.)
4. A Bifunctional Polyphosphate Kinase Driving the Regeneration of Nucleoside Triphosphate and Reconstituted Cell-Free Protein Synthesis

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.9b00456  

   Wang, Po-Hsiang; Fujishima, Kosuke; Berhanu, Samuel; Kuruma, Yutetsu; Jia, Tony Z.; Khusnutdinova, Anna N.; Yakunin, Alexander F.; McGlynn, Shawn E. (December 2019, ACS Synthetic Biology)
5. Preferential utilization of inorganic polyphosphate over other bioavailable phosphorus sources by the model diatoms Thalassiosira spp.

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1462‐2920.14630  

   Diaz, Julia M.; Steffen, Rachel; Sanders, James G.; Tang, Yuanzhi; Duhamel, Solange (May 2019, Environmental Microbiology)