Fructose 2,6-bisphosphate 2 years after its discovery.

It was in 1909 that Young, in the laboratory of Harden, isolated from fermenting yeast the fructose bisphosphate (the Harden and Young ester) that was later identified by Levene & Raymond (1928) as fructose 1,6-bisphosphate. Some 71 years elapsed until a second fructose bisphosphate was isolated from living cells and identified as fructose 2,6bisphosphate (Van Schaftingen et al., 1980c). In contrast with its elder brother, Fru-2,6-P2 is not an intermediary metabolite of glycolysis, but its most potent regulator. In the present review, we will summarize the work that led to its discovery and we will try to delineate its potential role in the control of metabolism in various organisms.