Pyridoxal phosphatase catalyzes the dephosphorylation of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) and pyridoxine 5'-phosphate. A human brain cDNA clone was identified to the PLP phosphatase on the basis of peptide sequences obtained previously. The cDNA predicts a 296-amino acid protein with a calculated Mr of 31698. The open reading frame is encoded by two exons located on human chromosome 22q12.3, and the exon-intron junction contains the GT/AG consensus splice site. In addition, a full-length mouse PLP phosphatase cDNA of 1978 bp was also isolated. Mouse enzyme encodes a protein of 292 amino acids with Mr of 31512, and it is localized on chromosome 15.E1. Human and mouse PLP phosphatase share 93% identity in protein sequence. A BLAST search revealed the existence of putative proteins in organism ranging from bacteria to mammals. Catalytically active human PLP phosphatase was expressed in Escherichia coli, and characteristics of the recombinant enzyme were similar to those of erythrocyte enzyme. The recombinant enzyme displayed Km and kcat values for pyridoxal of 2.5 microM and 1.52 s(-1), respectively. Human PLP phosphatase mRNA is differentially expressed in a tissue-specific manner. A single mRNA transcript of 2.1 kb was detected in all human tissues examined and was highly abundant in the brain. Obtaining the molecular properties for the human PLP phosphatase may provide new direction for investigating metabolic pathway involving vitamin B6.