Acetoacetyl CoA

Ketone body synthesis occurs only in the mitochondrial matrix. The reactions responsible for the formation of ketone bodies are shown in Figure 24.28. The first reaction—the condensation of two molecules of acetyl-CoA to form acetoacetyl-CoA—is catalyzed by thiolase, which is also known as acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase or acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase. This is the same enzyme that carries out the thiolase reaction in /3-oxidation, but here it runs in reverse. The second reaction adds another molecule of acetyl-CoA to give (i-hydroxy-(i-methyl-glutaryl-CoA, commonly abbreviated HMG-CoA. These two mitochondrial matrix reactions are analogous to the first two steps in cholesterol biosynthesis, a cytosolic process, as we shall see in Chapter 25. HMG-CoA is converted to acetoacetate and acetyl-CoA by the action of HMG-CoA lyase in a mixed aldol-Claisen ester cleavage reaction. This reaction is mechanistically similar to the reverse of the citrate synthase reaction in the TCA cycle. A membrane-bound enzyme, /3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, then can reduce acetoacetate to /3-hydroxybutyrate. 

Step 1 of Figure 27.7 Claisen Condensation The first step in mevalonate biosynthesis is a Claisen condensation (Section 23.7) to yield acetoacetyl CoA, a reaction catalyzed by acetoacetyl-CoA acetyltransferase. An acetyl group is first bound to the enzyme by a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction with a cysteine —SH group. Formation of an enolate ion from a second molecule of acetyl CoA, followed by Claisen condensation, then yields the product. 

Step 2 of Figure 27.7 Aldol Condensation Acetoacetyl CoA next undergoes an aldol-like addition (Section 23.1) of an acetyl CoA enolate ion in a reaction catalyzed by 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase. The reaction again occurs... 

O Claisen condensation of two molecules of acetyl CoA gives acetoacetyl CoA. 

Aldol-like condensation of acetoacetyl CoA with a third molecule of acetyl CoA, followed by hydrolysis, gives (3S)-3-hydroxy-3-melhylglutaryl CoA. 

The initial reaction in Problem 29.42, conversion of two molecules of acetyl CoA to one molecule of acetoacetyl CoA, is a Claisen reaction. Assuming that there is a base present, show the mechanism of the reaction. 

The biosynthetic pathways for sterol biosynthesis have been known for a long time and a brief summary is presented in Scheme l.3 Starting from acetyl CoA (2), acetoacetyl CoA, and... 

In peripheral tissues acetoacetate exported by the liver reacts with succinyl-CoA formed in the citrate cycle to give acetoacetyl-CoA and succinate catalyzed by a specific CoA transferase. 

The acetoacetyl-CoA then reacts with CoASH to yield two molecules of acetyl-CoA, catalyzed by acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase... 

When ketone bodies are being metabolized in extra-hepatic tissues there is an alternative reaction catalyzed by succinyl-CoA-acetoacetate-CoA transferase (thio-phorase)—involving transfer of CoA from succinyl-CoA to acetoacetate, forming acetoacetyl-CoA (Chapter 22). 

Enzymes responsible for ketone body formation are associated mainly with the mitochondria. Two acetyl-CoA molecules formed in P-oxidation condense with one another to form acetoacetyl-CoA by a reversal of the thiolase reaction. Acetoacetyl-CoA, which is the... 

While an active enzymatic mechanism produces acetoacetate from acetoacetyl-CoA in the liver, acetoacetate once formed cannot be reactivated directly except in the cytosol, where it is used in a much less active pathway as a precursor in cholesterol synthesis. This accounts for the net production of ketone bodies by the liver. 

In extrahepatic tissues, acetoacetate is activated to acetoacetyl-CoA by succinyl-CoA-acetoacetate CoA transferase. CoA is transferred from succinyl-CoA to form acetoacetyl-CoA (Figure 22-8). The acetoacetyl-CoA is split to acetyl-CoA by thiolase and oxidized in the citric acid cycle. If the blood level is raised, oxidation of ketone bodies increases until, at a concentration of approximately 12 mmol/L, they saturate the oxidative machinery. When this occurs, a large proportion of the oxygen consumption may be accounted for by the oxidation of ketone bodies. 

The Deacylase Pathway for Ketogenesis is feasible after the formation of acetoace-tyl-CoA which is subject to hydrolysis to acetoacetate in the liver with the involvement of acetoacetyl-CoA hydrolase, or deacylase. 

Ketosis is a pathologic state produced by an excess of ketone bodies in the organism. However, ketosis may be regarded as a lipid metabolism pathology with a certain reserve, since excessive biosynthesis of ketone bodies in the liver is sequent upon an intensive hepatic oxidation not only of fatty acids, but also of keto-genic amino acids. The breakdown of the carbon frameworks of these amino acids leads to the formation of acetyl-CoA and acetoacetyl-CoA, which are used in... 

Figure 12.3 (a) The mevalonate pathway (AAS, acetoacetyl-CoA synthase HMGS, HMG-CoA... 

From this group of microorganisms, so far only Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been transformed to a poly(3HB) accumulating organism by expressing solely phflCRe in the cytoplasm ([137], Table 4). In contrast to E. coli and plants, which synthesize poly(3HB) only if a /3-ketothiolase and an acetoacetyl-CoA reductase... 

In the synthesis route from acetyl-CoA to poly(3HB), at least three steps and three enzymes are involved (Fig. 1). The first step is catalyzed by the 3-keto-thiolase (EC 2.3.1.9) which reversibly links two acetyl-CoA moieties to aceto-acetyl-CoA in a Claisen-condensation. The conversion of acetoacetyl-CoA into D-(-)-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA can be mediated by a reductase (step 2) or via a sequence catalyzed by a reductase (step 4) and two hydratases (steps 5,6). The last step, i.e., the polymerization, is catalyzed by a polymerase (step 3). This... 

Fig. 1. The metabolic cycle for the synthesis and degradation of poly(3HB). (1) 3-ketothiolase (2) NADPH-dependent acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (3) poly(3HB) synthase (4) NADH-dependent acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (5), (6) enolases (7) depolymerase (8) d-(-)-3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (9) acetoacetyl-CoA synthetase (10) succinyl-CoA transferase (11) citrate synthase (12) see Sect. 3...

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