Molecular and structural basis of metabolic diversity mediated by prenyldiphosphate converting enzymes

General thermodynamic, structural and mechanistic aspects of C-prenylations catalyzed by enzymes like terpene synthases (cyclases) and aromatic prenyltransferases are discussed with an emphasis on p-hydroxybenzoic acid oligoprenyltransferase (UbiA) from Escherichia coli. A hypothesis on the evolutionary relationship between these two enzyme classes is presented.