Aldol reaction citrate synthase

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. 

Enzymes work by bringing reactant molecules together, holding them, in the orientation necessary for reaction, and providing any necessary acidic or basic sites to catalyze specific steps. As an example, let s look at citrate synthase, an enzyme that catalyzes the aldol-like addition of acetyl CoA to oxaloacetate to give citrate. The reaction is the first step in the citric acid cycle, in which acetyl groups produced by degradation of food molecules are metabolized to yield C02 and H20. We ll look at the details of the citric acid cycle in Section 29.7. 

Step 1 of Figure 29.12 Addition to Oxaloacetate Acetyl CoA enters the citric acid cycle in step 1 by nucleophilic addition to the oxaloacetate carbonyl group, to give (S)-citryl CoA. The addition is an aldol reaction and is catalyzed by citrate synthase, as discussed in Section 26.11. (S)-Citryl CoA is then hydrolyzed to citrate by a typical nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction, catalyzed by the same citrate synthase enzyme. 

Aldol and reverse a idol reactions in biochemistry aldolase, citrate synthase... 

A similar aldol reaction is encountered in the Krebs cycle in the reaction of acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetic acid (see Section 15.3). This yields citric acid, and is catalysed by the enzyme citrate synthase. This intermediate provides the alternative terminology for the Krebs cycle, namely the citric acid cycle. The aldol reaction is easily rationalized, with acetyl-CoA providing an enolate anion nucleophile that adds to the carbonyl of oxaloacetic acid. We shall see later that esters and thioesters can also be converted into enolate anions (see Section 10.7). 

One interesting feature here is that both acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetic acid have the potential to form enolate anions, and that oxaloacetic acid is actually more acidic than acetyl-CoA, in that there are two carbonyl groups flanking the methylene. That citrate synthase achieves the aldol reaction as shown reflects that the enzyme active site must have a basic residue appropriately positioned to abstract a proton from acetyl-CoA rather than oxaloacetic acid, thus allowing acetyl-CoA to act as the nucleophile. 

The obvious product of the aldol reaction would be the thioester citryl-CoA. However, the enzyme citrate synthase also carries out hydrolysis of the thioester linkage, so that the product is citric acid hence the terminology. The hydrolysis of the thioester is actually responsible for disturbing the equilibrium and driving the reaction to completion. 

Citrate synthase catalyses an aldol reaction rather than a Claisen reaction... 

The reaction catalysed by citrate synthase in the Krebs cycle (see Section 15.3) is primarily an aldol reaction, but the subsequent step, hydrolysis of a thioester linkage, is also catalysed by the same enzyme. This is shown below. 

Citrate synthase catalyzes the aldol reaction between acetyl-CoA and oxaloace-tate. The acyl-CoA Hnk is then cleaved by hydrolysis, releasing a molecule of citrate and free CoA. 

Polycarboxylic acid synthases. Several enzymes, including citrate synthase, the key enzyme which catalyzes the first step of the citric acid cycle, promote condensations of acetyl-CoA with ketones (Eq. 13-38). An a-oxo acid is most often the second substrate, and a thioester intermediate (Eq. 13-38) undergoes hydrolysis to release coenzyme A.199 Because the substrate acetyl-CoA is a thioester, the reaction is often described as a Claisen condensation. The same enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of acetyl-CoA with a ketone also catalyzes the second step, the hydrolysis of the CoA thioester. These polycarboxylic acid synthases are important in biosynthesis. They carry out the initial steps in a general chain elongation process (Fig. 17-18). While one function of the thioester group in acetyl-CoA is to activate the methyl hydrogens toward the aldol condensation, the subsequent hydrolysis of the thioester linkage provides for overall irreversibility and "drives" the synthetic reaction. 

Citrate is a key intermediate of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, also known as the Krebs cycle, in the central metabolism of cells. (The set of reactions of the TCA cycle will be considered in some detail in Chapter 6.) One reaction in the cycle is the combination of oxaloacetate (OAA) and the acetyl group from acetyl coenzyme A (ACCOA), in the presence of H2O, to form citrate (CIT), thiol coenzyme A (COASH), and hydrogen ion (H+). The chemical reference reaction for this aldol condensation-hydrolysis reaction catalyzed by citrate synthase is ... 

This reaction, which is an aldol condensation followed by a hydrolysis, is catalyzed by citrate synthase. Oxaloacetate first condenses with acetyl CoA to form citryl CoA, which is then hydrolyzed to citrate and CoA. The hydrolysis of citryl CoA, a high-energy thioester intermediate, drives the overall reaction far in the direction of the synthesis of citrate. In essence, the hydrolysis of the thioester powers the synthesis of a new molecule from two precursors. Because this reaction initiates the cycle, it is very important that side reactions be minimized. Let us briefly consider the how citrate synthase prevents wasteful processes such as the hydrolysis of acetyl CoA. 

The first reaction of the TCA cycle is catalyzed by citrate synthase and involves a carbanion formed at the methyl group of acetyl-CoA that undergoes aldol condensation with the carbonyl carbon atom of the oxaloacetate ... 

CoA and oxaloacetate. Actually, this is another biological example of an aldol condensation reaction. It is catalyzed by the enzyme citrate synthase. The product that is formed is citrate ... 

We mentioned the citric acid cycle earlier but we have not so far discussed the chemistry involved. The citric acid cycle allows metabolism to shunt carbon atoms between small molecules, and the key step is the synthesis of citric add from oxaloacetate and acetyl CoA. The reaction is essentially an aldol reaction between the enol of an acetate ester and an electrophilic ketone, and the enzyme which catalyses the reaction is known as citrate synthase. 

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