Amino metabolism, enzymes

These CYPs are isoenzymes (or isozymes), catalysing essentially the same reaction, but for different substrate ranges with specificity determined by their different amino acid sequences. CYPs (and other metabolic enzymes) often react with individual substrates in a highly regio-, chemo- or stereo-selective manner, each isozyme displaying its own unique selectivity. Some examples of selective CYP-catalysed transformations are shown in Scheme 1.3. 

Unnatural amino acids are added to the growth medium in most experiments. There are a large number of amino acid and amine transporters that are relatively nonspecific and which may help to transport the unnatural amino acids into cells. From measurements of cytoplasmic levels of amino acids, it is found that a large number of unnatural amino acids are efficiently transported to the E. coli cytoplasm in millimolar concentrations. Highly charged or hydrophilic amino acids may require derivatization (e.g., esterification, acylation) with groups that are hydrolyzed in the cytoplasm. Metabolically labile amino acids or analogues (e.g., a-hydroxy acids, A-methyl amino acids) may require strains in which specific metabolic enzymes are deleted. 

When rats were administered atrazine in drinking water at 0.1, 0.2, or 0.5 g/1 for 1 or 3 weeks, they excreted as the principal metabolite 2 -chloro-4-ethylamino-6-amino-s-triazine. Atrazine and its metabolites have been shown to alter the activity of some testosterone-metabolizing enzymes in the rat pituitary and hypothalamus and to decrease hormone-receptor binding in the prostate. ... 

Interactions with metabolic enzymes fluorinated amino acids are peptidomi-metic units or reactive entities used to design either reversible enzyme inhibitors (analogues of substrates) or irreversible enzyme inhibitors (mechanism-based inhibitors). 

The first examples of mechanism must be divided into two principal classes the chemistry of enzymes that require coenzymes, and that of enzymes without cofactors. The first class includes the enzymes of amino-acid metabolism that use pyridoxal phosphate, the oxidation-reduction enzymes that require nicotinamide adenine dinucleotides for activity, and enzymes that require thiamin or biotin. The second class includes the serine esterases and peptidases, some enzymes of sugar metabolism, enzymes that function by way of enamines as intermediates, and ribonuclease. An understanding of the mechanisms for all of these was well underway, although not completed, before 1963. 

With some of the phase 2 metabolizing enzymes, there may be strict ontogenetic patterns of expression. Sulfate conjugation ability occurs early in rats, whereas glucuronidation (of xenobiotics), and conjugation with glutathione and amino acids, only develop over about 30 days from birth. 

Many proteins (e.g., important metabolic enzymes) are insoluble in water and are found attached to membranes within cells. What amino acid residues do you expect to find on the side of the protein that attaches to the membrane ... 

That amines formed from naturally occurring amino acids are partly responsible for chronic hypertension is a rather attractive hypothesis first suggested by the experiments of Holtz (35). Besides the normal metabolic enzymes of amino acids, tissues, especially kidney, liver, and brain, contain amino acid decarboxylases, some of them specific for certain amino acids, some less so. These are anaerobic enzymes. After decarboxylation, certain monoamines are deaminated by amine oxidases which are sensitive to oxygen tension. The best known of these oxidases is the enzyme of Blaschko, Richter, and Schlossmann (9), which may be a mixture of three or more (29), and which is specific for many nonsubstituted vasoactive amines found in the body, with the notable exception of histamine. 

A substrate binds an enzyme at the active site. Substrate-enzyme binding is based on weak intermolecular attractions contact forces, dipole forces, and hydrogen bonding. Steric effects also play an important role because the substrate must physically fit into the active site. Some enzymes have confined active sites, while others are open and accessible. A restricted active site can lead to high selectivity for a specific substrate. Low specificity can be advantageous for some enzymes, particularly metabolic and digestive enzymes that need to process a broad range of compounds with a variety of structures. Because enzymes are composed of chiral amino acids, enzymes interact differently with stereoisomers, whether diastereomers or enantiomers. 

Mustard gas, Cl—CH2CH2 — S —CH2CH2—Cl, was used as a poisonous chemical agent in World War I. Mustard gas is much more toxic than a typical primary alkyl chloride. Its toxicity stems from its ability to alkylate amino groups on important metabolic enzymes, rendering the enzymes inactive. 

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