Cupin-type phosphoglucose isomerases (cPGIs) were identified in some archaeal and bacterial genomes and the respective coding function of cpgi's from the euryarchaeota Archaeoglobus fulgidus and Methanosarcina mazei, as well as the bacteria Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Ensifer meliloti, was proven by functional overexpression. These cPGIs and the cPGIs from Pyrococcus and Thermococcus spp. represent the cPGI family and were compared with respect to kinetic, inhibitory, thermophilic, and metal-binding properties. cPGIs showed a high specificity for the substrates fructose-6-phosphate and glucose-6-phosphate and were inhibited by millimolar concentrations of sorbitol-6-phosphate, erythrose-4-phosphate, and 6-phosphogluconate. Treatment of cPGIs with EDTA resulted in a complete loss of catalytic activity, which could be regained by the addition of some divalent cations, most effectively by Fe2+ and Ni2+, indicating a metal dependence of cPGI activity. The motifs TX3PX3GXEX3TXGHXHX6-11EXY and PPX3HX3N were deduced as the two signature patterns of the novel cPGI family. Phylogenetic analysis suggests lateral gene transfer for the bacterial cPGIs from euryarchaeota.