Isoleucine biosynthesis

It has been confirmed that isoleucine but not 3-hydroxy-2-methylbutanoic acid is a precursor for the tiglic acid which is the esterifying acid in some tropane alkaloids [e.g., meteloidine (77) (735)]. In the biosynthesis of meteloidine (77) from 3a-hydroxytropane (1), the hydroxyl groups at C-6 and C-7 are most probably introduced after esterification at C-3 (5) (Scheme 23). In this connection we would point out that scopolamine (89) is a well-known 2,3) metabolite of hyoscyamine (27) and that the reaction proceeds via 6-hydroxyhyoscyamine [(—)-anisodamine (63)] and 6,7-dehydrohyoscyamine (211) (Scheme 26). 

Three compounds acetoacetate, P-hydroxybutyrate, and acetone, are known as ketone bodies. They are suboxidized metabolic intermediates, chiefly those of fatty acids and of the carbon skeletons of the so-called ketogenic amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, lysine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan). The ketone body production, or ketogenesis, is effected in the hepatic mitochondria (in other tissues, ketogenesis is inoperative). Two pathways are possible for ketogenesis. The more active of the two is the hydroxymethyl glutarate cycle which is named after the key intermediate involved in this cycle. The other one is the deacylase cycle. In activity, this cycle is inferior to the former one. Acetyl-CoA is the starting compound for the biosynthesis of ketone bodies. 

Much was unknown for the halogenation for unreactive substrates until very recently, when the biosynthesis of the cyclopropyl amino acid side chain of coronatine was elucidated. This intriguing pathway, which involves /-chlorination of an enzyme-bound L-isoleucine followed by chloride displacement by the a-carbon, yields the cyclopropanated precursor... 

Elimination reactions (Figure 5.7) often result in the formation of carbon-carbon double bonds, isomerizations involve intramolecular shifts of hydrogen atoms to change the position of a double bond, as in the aldose-ketose isomerization involving an enediolate anion intermediate, while rearrangements break and reform carbon-carbon bonds, as illustrated for the side-chain displacement involved in the biosynthesis of the branched chain amino acids valine and isoleucine. Finally, we have reactions that involve generation of resonance-stabilized nucleophilic carbanions (enolate anions), followed by their addition to an electrophilic carbon (such as the carbonyl carbon atoms... 

Figure 5.7 Examples of (a) elimination, (b) isomerization (aldose/ketose) and (c) a complex rearrangement of the pinacol-pinacolone type found in the biosynthesis of valine and isoleucine.

One of the most distinguishing features of metabolic networks is that the flux through a biochemical reaction is controlled and regulated by a number of effectors other than its substrates and products. For example, as already discovered in the mid-1950s, the first enzyme in the pathway of isoleucine biosynthesis (threonine dehydratase) in E. coli is strongly inhibited by its end product, despite isoleucine having little structural resemblance to the substrate or product of the reaction [140,166,167]. Since then, a vast number of related... 

H. E. Umbarger, Evidence for a negative feedback mechanism in the biosynthesis of isoleucine. 

Valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis Lysine biosynthesis Lysine degradation Arginine and proline metabolism Histidine metabolism Tyrosine metabolism Phenylalanine metabolism Tryptophan metabolism Phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis Urea cycle and metabolism of amino groups... 

Earlier in this chapter, it was mentioned that many of the nonprotein amino acids are components of nonribosomal peptides. During such a biosynthesis, the peptide is attached to a carrier protein through a thioester bond, until chain termination occurs and the final product is released. The carrier protein is posttranslationally modified by the attachment of a phosphopantetheinyl group from coenzyme A. This step gives rise to the active carrier protein with a phosphopantetheine arm upon which amino acids are added to during NRPS. As an example, loading of isoleucine onto the carrier protein is depicted below (Scheme 5). Further details about nonribosomal peptide syntheses and enzymatic reactions can be found in Chapter 5.19. 

During the biosynthesis of nonribosomal peptides, there are two ways to incorporate the nonprotein amino acids. They can be incorporated either as a single unit or as an L-a-amino acid, which then undergoes structural modifications, while attached to the carrier protein. In the case of coronamic acid, L-rr//o-isoleucine is loaded onto the carrier protein and a unique biosynthetic pathway produces a cyclopropyl group containing a nonprotein amino acid. Specific examples of the biosynthesis of nonprotein amino acids will be discussed in the following sections. 

Capsaicinoids are synthesized by the condensation of vanillylamine with a short chain branched fatty acyl CoA. A schematic of this pathway is presented in Fig. 8.4. Evidence to support this pathway includes radiotracer studies, determination of enzyme activities, and the abundance of intermediates as a function of fruit development [51, 52, 57-63], Differential expression approaches have been used to isolate cDNA forms of biosynthetic genes [64-66], As this approach worked to corroborate several steps on the pathway, Mazourek et al. [67] used Arabidopsis sequences to design primers to clone the missing steps from a cDNA library. They have expanded the schema to include the biosynthesis of the key precursors phenylalanine and leucine, valine and isoleucine. Prior to this study it was not clear how the vanillin was produced, and thus the identification of candidate transcripts on the lignin pathway for the conversion of coumarate to feruloyl-CoA and the subsequent conversion to vanillin provide key tools to further test this proposed pathway. 

Figure 9-4. Metabolism of the branched-chain amino acids. The first two reactions, transamination and oxidative decarboxylation, are catalyzed by the same enzyme in all cases. Details are provided only for isoleucine. Further metabolism of isoleucine and valine follows a common pathway to propionyl CoA. Subsequent steps in the leucine degradative pathway diverge to yield acetoacetate. An intermediate in the pathway is 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG-CoA), which is a precursor for cytosolic cholesterol biosynthesis.

Branched Chain Amino Acid Biosynthesis. The branched chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine and valine, are produced by similar biosynthetic pathways (Figure 2.11). In one pathway, acetolactate is produced from pyruvate and in the other acetohydroxybutyrate is produced from threonine. Both reactions are catalysed by the same enzyme that is known as both acetolactate synthase (ALS) and acetohy-droxy acid synthase (AHAS). 

The biosynthesis of tenuazonic acid was studied using [l-14C]-labeled acetate. N-acetoacetyl-L-isoleucine (7) was detected by radioactive trapping, indicating that amide formation, rather than carbon-carbon bond formation is probably the first step. None of the simple tetramic acid (8)... 

FIGURE 22-15 Biosynthesis of six essential amino acids from oxalo-acetate and pyruvate in bacteria methionine, threonine, lysine, isoleucine, valine, and leucine. Here, and in other multistep pathways, the enzymes are listed in the key. Note that L,L-a,e-diaminopimelate, the product of step (HI), is symmetric. The carbons derived from pyruvate (and the amino group derived from glutamate) are not traced beyond this point, because subsequent reactions may place them at either end of the lysine molecule. 

Figure 11-3 Feedback inhibition of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of threonine, isoleucine, methionine, and lysine in E. coli. These amino acids all arise from L-aspartate, which is formed from oxaloacetate generated by the biosynthetic reactions of the citric acid cycle (Fig. 10-6). Allosteric inhibition. Q Repression of transcription of the enzyme or of its synthesis on ribosomes.

Isoenzymes (isozymes) 536, 538 Isoionic point 106 Isolation of compounds 98-108 Isoleucine (He, I) 52s, 539 biosynthesis 540 branched fatty acids from 381 configuration 43 Isologous interactions 337-353 in oligomers 349 - 353 square 352s... 

Figure 24-17 Biosynthesis of leucine, isoleucine, valine, and coenzyme A.

Pyruvate carboxylase, which participates in gluconeogenesis and lipogenesis Acetyl-CoA carboxylase, which participates in fatty acid biosynthesis Propionyl-CoA carboxylase, which participates in isoleucine catabolism 3-Methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase, which participates in leucine catabolism... 

Isoleucine and Valine Biosynthesis Share Four Enzymes... 

Outline of the biosynthesis of the 20 amino acids found in proteins. The de novo biosynthesis of amino acids starts with carbon compounds found in the central metabolic pathways. The central metabolic pathways are drawn in black, and the additional pathways are drawn in red. Some key intermediates are illustrated, and the number of steps in each pathway is indicated alongside the conversion arrow. All common amino acids are emphasized by boxes. Dashed arrows from pyruvate to both diaminopimelate and isoleucine reflect the fact that pyruvate contributes some of the side-chain carbon atoms for each of these amino acids. Note that lysine is unique in that two completely different pathways exist for its biosynthesis. The six amino acid families are screened. 

The first step in valine biosynthesis is a condensation between pyruvate and active acetaldehyde (probably hy-droxyethyl thiamine pyrophosphate) to yield a-acetolactate. The enzyme acetohydroxy acid synthase usually has a requirement for FAD, which, in contrast to most flavopro-teins, is rather loosely bound to the protein. The very same enzyme transfers the acetaldehyde group to a-ketobutyrate to yield a-aceto-a-hydroxybutyrate, an isoleucine precursor. Unlike pyruvate, the a-ketobutyrate is not a key intermediate of the central metabolic routes rather it is produced for a highly specific purpose by the action of a deaminase on L-threonine as shown in figure 21.10. 

The biosynthesis of isoleucine and valine. The reactions leading to valine are catalyzed by the same enzymes that catalyze the corresponding reactions in isoleucine biosynthesis. Common enzymes are screened in yellow. 

Umbarger reported that the end product isoleucine inhibits the first enzyme in its biosynthesis from threonine. 

---