NADP‐malic enzyme from plants: a ubiquitous enzyme involved in different metabolic pathways

NADP‐malic enzyme (NADP‐ME) is a widely distributed enzyme that catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of L‐malate. Photosynthetic NADP‐MEs are found in C4 bundle sheath chloroplasts and in the cytosol of CAM plants, while non‐photosynthetic NADP‐MEs are either plastidic or cytosolic in various plants. We propose a classification of plant NADP‐MEs based on their physiological function and localization and we describe recent advances in the characterization of each isoform. Based on the alignment of amino acid sequences of plant NADP‐MEs, we identify putative binding sites for the substrates and analyze the phylogenetic origin of each isoform, revealing several features of the molecular evolution of this ubiquitous enzyme.