4-Amino-2-methyl-5-hydroxymethyl pyrimidine diphosphate

Vitamin Bi is an essential co-factor for several enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism such as transketolase, pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), pyruvate decarboxylase and a-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. To become the active co-factor thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP), thiamin has to be salvaged by thiamin pyrophosphokinase or synthesized de novo. In Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae thiamin biosynthesis proceeds via two branches that have to be combined. In the pyrimidine branch, 4-amino-5-hydroxymethy-2-methylpyrimidine (PIMP) is phosphorylated to 4-amino-2-methyl-5-hydroxymethyl pyrimidine diphosphate (PIMP-PP) by the enzyme HMP/HMP-P kinase (ThiD) however, the step can also be catalyzed by pyridoxine kinase (PdxK), an enzyme also responsible for the activation of vitamin B6 (see below). The second precursor of thiamin biosynthesis, 5-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methylthiazole (THZ), is activated by THZ kinase (ThiM) to 4-methyl-5-(2-phosphoethyl)-thiazole (THZ-P), and then the thia-zole and pyrimidine moieties, HMP-PP and THZ-P, are combined to form thiamin phosphate (ThiP) by thiamin phosphate synthase (ThiE). The final step, pyrophosphorylation, yields TPP and is carried out by thiamin pyrophosphorylase (TPK). 

Thiamine is present in cells as the free form 1, as the diphosphate 2, and as the diphosphate of the hydroxyethyl derivative 3 (Scheme 1) in variable ratio. The component heterocyclic moieties, 4-amino-5-hydroxymethyl-2-methylpyrimidine (4) and 4-methyl-5-(2-hydroxyethyl)thiazole (5) are also presented in Scheme 1, with the atom numbering. This numbering follows the rules of nomenclature of heterocyclic compounds for the ring atoms, and is arbitrary for the substituents. To avoid the use of acronyms, compound 5 is termed as the thiazole of thiamine or more simply the thiazole. This does not raise any ambiguity because unsubstituted thiazole is encountered in this chapter. Other thiazoles are named after the rules of heterocyclic nomenclature. Pyrimidine 4 is called pyramine, a well established name in the field. A detailed account of the present status of knowledge on the biosynthesis of thiamine diphosphate from its heterocyclic moieties can be found in a review by the authors.1 This report provides only the minimal information necessary for understanding the main part of this chapter (Scheme 2). 

Thiamine can be considered to be the product of the quatemization of 4-methyl-5-(2-hydroxymethyl)thiazole (5) by an active derivative of 4-amino-5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-methyl pyrimidine (4) (Scheme 2). In living cells, pyramine can be activated by conversion into the diphosphate 7, via monophosphate 6, and the substrate of the enzyme responsible for the quatemization is not the thiamine thiazole, but its phosphate 8. The product of the condensation, thiamine phosphate (9), is finally converted into diphosphate 2—the biochemically active derivative—by hydrolysis to free thiamine, followed by diphosphorylation, or more directly, in some cases. Enzymes are known for all of the steps depicted in Scheme 2, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is, as usual, the phosphate donor. 

Vitamin Bi (also called thiamine) is a water-soluble vitamin of B complex present in many foods as a natural nutrient. It is a biologically and pharmaceutically important compound containing a pyrimidine and a thiazole moiety such as 4-amino-5-hydroxymethyl-2-methyl-pyrimidine and 5-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methylthiazole linked by a methylene bridge (Figure 15.1). It is necessary for carbohydrate metabolism and for the maintenance of neural activity because most of the humans and mammals cannot synthesize vitamin Bi. Nerve cells need vitamin BI for their normal function because vitamin Bi has diphosphate-active sites which serve as a cofactor for several enzymes (Leopold et al. 2005). Vitamin Bi is employed for the prevention and treatment of beriberi, neuralgia, etc. and played a vital role in enzymatic mitochondrial... 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ ]

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