2,3-Bisphosphoglyceric acid

2,3-Bisphosphoglyceric acid (conjugate base 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate) (2,3-BPG), also known as 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid (conjugate base 2,3-diphosphoglycerate) (2,3-DPG), is a three-carbon isomer of the glycolytic intermediate 1,3-bisphosphoglyceric acid (1,3-BPG).

D-2,3-BPG is present in human red blood cells (RBC; erythrocyte) at approximately 5 mmol/L. It binds with greater affinity to deoxygenated hemoglobin (e.g., when the red blood cell is near respiring tissue) than it does to oxygenated hemoglobin (e.g., in the lungs) due to conformational differences: 2,3-BPG (with an estimated size of about 9 Å) fits in the deoxygenated hemoglobin conformation (with an 11-Angstrom pocket), but not as well in the oxygenated conformation (5 Angstroms). It interacts with deoxygenated hemoglobin beta subunits and decreases the affinity for oxygen and allosterically promotes the release of the remaining oxygen molecules bound to the hemoglobin. Therefore, it enhances the ability of RBCs to release oxygen near tissues that need it most. 2,3-BPG is thus an allosteric effector.

Its function was discovered in 1967 by Reinhold Benesch and Ruth Benesch.

Metabolism

2,3-BPG is formed from 1,3-BPG by the enzyme BPG mutase. It can then be broken down by 2,3-BPG phosphatase to form 3-phosphoglycerate. Its synthesis and breakdown are, therefore, a way around a step of glycolysis, with the net expense of one ATP per molecule of 2,3-BPG generated as the high-energy carboxylic acid-phosphate mixed anhydride bond is cleaved by 2,3-BPG phosphatase.

The normal glycolytic pathway generates 1,3-BPG, which may be dephosphorylated by phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK), generating ATP, or it may be shunted into the Luebering-Rapoport pathway, where bisphosphoglycerate mutase catalyzes the transfer of a phosphoryl group from C1 to C2 of 1,3-BPG, giving 2,3-BPG. 2,3-BPG, the most concentrated organophosphate in the erythrocyte, forms 3-PG by the action of bisphosphoglycerate phosphatase.