Acetoacetate, cleaving enzyme,

The condensing enzyme for this reaction has been isolated (Rudney 1957). j5-hydroxy-jff-methylglutaryl-CoA can then either be used for the terpene and cholesterol synthesis or cleaved to yield acetoacetate and acetyl-CoA. The cleaving enzyme has also been purified (Bachawat et al. 1955, 1956). 

The following experiments shed some light. Kinetic studies of sucdnyl-CoA-acetoacetate CoA transferase indicate a ping-pong mechanism. The enzyme alternates between two distinct forms, one of which has been shown to contain bound CoA.932-934 The E-CoA intermediate formed from enzyme plus acetoacetyl-CoA was reduced with 3H-containing sodium borohydride and the protein was completely hydrolyzed with HC1. Tritium-containing a-amino-8-hydroxyvaleric acid was isolated. Since thioesters (as well as oxygen esters) are cleaved in a two-step process... 

Most tissues oxidize the acetyl-CoA produced during P-oxidation to C02 and water via the TCA cycle. During fasting, however, the liver utilizes the intermediates of the TCA cycle as gluconeogenic substrates. Under these conditions, the Ever converts acetyl-CoA to ketone bodies (acetoacetate and P-hydroxybutyrate) (Figure 32-5). Most other peripheral tissues can oxidize ketone bodies by the pathway shown in the figure. After entering the mitochondria, acetoacetate reacts with succinyl-CoA to form acetoacetyl-CoA, a reaction that is catalyzed by 3-oxoacid-CoA transferase. Alternatively, acetoacetyl-CoA is formed by direct activation of acetoacetate by the enzyme acetoacetyl-CoA synthetase. Acetoacetyl-CoA is then cleaved to form two molecules of acetyl-CoA by acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase.As noted earlier in... 

The enzyme 3-oxoacid transferase is in mitochondria of muscle and converts acetoacetate to acetoacetyl-CoA however, it is absent from liver mitochondria. The acetoacetyl-CoA is cleaved to acetyl-CoA by thiolase, which is in the mitochondria of all tissues (see Fig. 13-7). 

B. This compound is acetoacetate, which is synthesized in the liver when blood insulin levels are low. HMG CoA synthetase is the key regulatory enzyme for synthesis, not oxidation. Acetoacetate is transported to tissues, such as muscle, where it is activated in the mitochondrion by succinyl CoA (not ATP), cleaved to 2 acetyl CoA, and oxidized via the TCA cycle, which requires the vitamin thiamine as thiamine pyrophosphate, a cofactor for a-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. Biotin is not required. 

The answer is e. (Murray, pp 190—198. Scriver, pp 1521—1552. Sack, pp 121-138. Wilson, pp 287-317.) The major fate of acetoacetyl CoA formed from condensation of acetyl CoA in the liver is the formation of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG CoA). Under normal postabsorp-tive conditions, HMG CoA production occurs in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes as part of the overall process of cholesterol biosynthesis. However, in fasting or starving persons, as well as in patients with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, HMG CoA production occurs in liver mitochondria as part of ketone body synthesis. In this process, HMG CoA is cleaved by HMG CoA lyase to yield acetoacetate and acetyl CoA. The NADH-dependent enzyme P-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase converts most of the acetoacetate to P-hydroxybutyrate, These two ketone bodies, acetoacetate and P-hydroxybutyrate, diffuse into the blood and are transported to peripheral tissues. 

Two acetyl CoAs can combine to form acetoacetyl CoA by the reverse of b-ketothiolase. The acetoacetyl CoA then combines with another acetyl CoA to make hydroxymethyl glutaryl CoA (HMG CoA) by the enzyme hydroxymethyl glutaryl CoA synthase. The HMG CoA in the mitochondrion can be cleaved by HMG CoA lyase in the mitochondrion to form acetoacetate and acetyl CoA. In this conversion, the formation of acetoacetyl CoA from two acetyl CoAs releases a free CoA and formation of HMG CoA from acetyl CoA and acetoacetyl CoA also releases a free coenzyme A. Thus, the release of free coenzyme A allows beta oxidation to continue with the production of acetoacetate. During diabetes and starvation, almost 90% of carbon from a fatty acid such as oleate can be accounted for in the form of ketone bodies during experiments with perfused livers. At this time, it would be worth noting that this process occurs in the mitochondrion later it will be seen that HMG CoA in the cytosol is a major precursor for cholesterol synthesis. 

Acetoacetate can be activated to acetoacetyl CoA in the cytosol by an enzyme similar to the acyl CoA synthetases. This acetoacetyl CoA can be used directly in cholesterol synthesis. It also can be cleaved to two molecules of acetyl CoA by a cytosolic thiolase. Cytosolic acetyl CoA is required for processes such as acetylcholine synthesis in neuronal cells. 

After the activation to its coenzyme A ester of acetoacetate by succinyl-CoA 3-oxoacid transferase, the acetoacetyl-coenzyme A must be cleaved into acetyl-CoA by thiolase. There are three thiolase enzymes one cytosolic enzyme and two mitochondrial enzymes (distinguished by the laboratory property of one being activated by potassium and the other is not). The main enzyme only cleaves acetoacetyl-CoA and provides a baseline thiolase activity. The other enzyme cleaves both acetoacetyl-CoA and... 

Fatty acid oxidation can be terminated in either of two ways. Acetoacetyl CoA can either be cleaved to two molecules of acetyl CoA which condense with oxalacetate to form citrate, or it can be deacylated to acetoacetate by a deacylase specific for d-keto butyryl CoA. - In kidney and heart muscle there is no accumulation of acetoacetate, whereas in liver acetoacetate is formed in preference to citrate. The non-accumulation of acetoacetate in tissues other than liver probably is referable to the following circumstances. All tissues but liver contain activating enzymes which catalyze the conversion of acetoacetate to acetoacetyl CoA. Thus any acetoacetate formed by deacylation is thrust back as it were into the metabolic wheel. In liver deacylation is not opposed by this reactivation of acetoacetate. Hence acetoacetate accumulates only in liver. 

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