Acyl adenylate, from carboxylic acids

The carboxyl groups of the amino acids are converted to reactive acyl adenylates by reaction with ATP, just as in Eq. 10-1. Each "activated" amino acid is carried on a molecule of transfer RNA (tRNA) and is placed in the reactive site of a ribosome when the appropriate codon of the mRNA has moved into the site. The growing peptide chain is then transferred by a displacement reaction onto the amino group of the activated amino acid that is being added to the peptide chain. In this manner, new amino acids are added one at a time to the carboxyl end of the chain, which always remains attached to a tRNA molecule. The process continues until a stop signal in the mRNA ends the process and the completed protein chain is released from the ribosome. Details are given in Chapter 29. 

The direct route of acyl coenzyme A synthesis from a free carboxylic acid is catalysed by a group of nucleoside triphosphate-requiring en mes, collectively known as thiokinases. The general mechanism, as exemplified for acetate activation by acetyl thiokinase, proceeds as follows. The carboxylic acid is first activated by acetyl adenylate formation with the displacement of pyrophosphate from ATP. While the initial reaction is fully reversible, subsequent action of pyrophosphatase drives the reaction... 

Now we will see how fatty acids, the other products formed from the hydrolysis of fats, are metabolized. Before a fatty acid can be metabolized, it must be activated. We have seen that a carboxylic acid can be activated in a cell by first being converted to an acyl adenylate, which occurs when the carboxylate ion attacks the a-phosphorus of ATP. The acyl adenylate then reacts with coenzyme A in a nucleophilic addition-elimination reaction to form a thioester (Section 16.23). 

A minimal NRPS module consists of an adenylation domain (A), condensation domain (C) and a peptidyl-carrier protein (PCP). In the first instance, the substrate-specific adenylation domain activates the carboxyl region of the amino acid with ATP, forming the mixed acyl-phosphoric acid anhydride with AMP, followed by loading onto the phosphopanthetheine moiety of the PCP. The condensation domain subsequently catalyses the nucleophific attack of the amino group of the previously activated amino acid, to the carbonyl of the tethered acyl group from the previous module [38, 39]. This results in the formation of a new peptide bond between the two units (Fig. 1.15). 

Hydroxy- 9-methylglutaryl CoA further yields acetyl CoA and acetoacetic acid, as was shown earlier by Coon et cU. (I48). In biotin deficiency the carboxylation reaction does not occur. It was shown by Lynen et al. that the actual carboxylation is preceded by the enzymic dehydration (rf jS-hydroxyisovaleryl CoA to /8-methylcrotonyl CoA, which is the true substrate for the entry of CO2. TTiis occurs at the expense of the hydrolysis of the terminal P04 of ATP. The unsaturated intermediate is then saturated by the addition of H2O to yield the final product. The critical step of this carboxylation is the conversion of CO2 to a reactive form. The analogy of the biochemical activation of other substances through an acyl adenylate type of compound did not fit CO2 activation. The final mechanism of the activation of CO2 was derived from the discovery that the carboxylase enzyme was a biotin-protein. This observation explains earlier work 149) which indicated that biotin is a cofactor of the fatty acid-synthesizing enzyme system. When the purified carboxylase was incubated with P and ATP an exchange reaction of phosphate occurred, which was inhibited by avidin, a protein which specifically binds biotin. This indicated that the primary reaction in CO2 fixation is the combination of ATP with the biotin-protein enzyme to yield ADP biotin-protein -f P. The active CO2 is then the product of an exchange reaction between ADP and C02 which is finally attached to the biotin-protein complex. 

The first step in the activation of a fatty acid— either for energy-yielding oxidation or for use in the synthesis of more complex lipids—is the formation of its thiol ester (see Fig. 17-5). The direct condensation of a fatty acid with coenzyme A is endergonic, but the formation of fatty acyl-CoA is made exergonic by stepwise removal of two phosphoiyl groups from ATP. First, adenylate (AMP) is transferred from ATP to the carboxyl group of the fatty acid, forming a mixed anhydride... 

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