Biotin-mediated carboxylation

MECHANISM FIGURE 16-16 The role of biotin in the reaction catalyzed by pyruvate carboxylase. Biotin is attached to the enzyme through an amide bond with the e-amino group of a Lys residue, forming biotinyl-enzyme. Biotin-mediated carboxylation reactions occur in two phases, generally catalyzed by separate active sites on the enzyme as exemplified by the pyruvate carboxylase reaction. In the first phase (steps to ), bicarbonate is converted to the more activated C02, and then used to carboxylate biotin. The bicarbonate is first activated by reaction with ATP to form carboxyphosphate (step ), which breaks down to carbon dioxide (step ). In effect, the... 

Reactions Requiring Acyl-Group Transfers Linked to Oxidation—Reduction Biotin Mediates Carboxylations Folate Coenzymes Are Used in Reactions for One-Carbon Transfers... 

Biotin mediates carboxylation of activated methyl groups. 

C. M. Visser and R. M. Kellogg (1977), Mimesis of the biotin mediated carboxyl transfer reactions. Bioorg. Chem. 6, 79-88. 

Biotin appears to have just the right chemical and structural properties to mediate carboxylation. It readily accepts activated carboxyl groups at Nl and maintains them in an acceptably stable yet reactive form for transfer to ac-ceptor substrates. Since biotin is bonded to a lysyl group,... 

Biocytin should not be used in a carbodiimide reaction to modify proteins or other molecules, since it contains both a carboxylate and an amine group. A carbodiimide-mediated reaction, as suggested for D-biotin previously, would cause self-conjugation and polymerization of this reagent. 

Biotin enzymes are believed to function primarily in reversible carboxvlahon-decarboxylation reactions. For example, a biotin enzyme mediates the carboxylation of propionic acid to methylmalonic add, which is subsequently converted to succinic acid, a dtric acid cycle intermediate. A vitamin Bl2 coenzyme and coenzyme A are also essential to this overall reaction, again pointing out the interdependence of the B vitamin coenzymes. Another biotin enzyme-mediated reaction is the formation of malonyl-CoA by carboxylation of acetyl-CoA ( active acetate ). Malonyl-CoA is believed lo be a key intermediate in fatly add synthesis. 

The coenzymatic function of biotin appears to be to mediate the carboxylation of substrates by accepting the ATP-activated carboxyl group and transferring it to the carboxyl acceptor substrate. There is good reason to believe that the enzymatic sites of ATP-dependent carboxylation of biotin are physically separated from the sites at which N -carboxybiotin transfers the carboxyl group to acceptor substrates, that is, the transcarboxylase sites. In fact, in the case of the acetyl-CoA carboxylase from E. coli (see chapter 18), these two sites reside on two different subunits, while the biotinyl group is bonded to a third, a small subunit designated biotin carboxyl carrier protein. 

Amine-reactive biotinylation reagents contain functional groups off biotin s valeric acid side chain that are able to form covalent bonds with primary amines in proteins and other molecules. Two basic types are commonly available NHS esters and car-boxylates. NHS esters spontaneously react with amines to form amide linkages (Chapter 2, Section 1.4). Carboxylate-containing biotin compounds can be coupled to amines via a carbodiimide-mediated reaction using EDC (Chapter 3, Section 1.1). 

The initial step involves the formation of carboxybiotinyl enzyme. In the second step, carboxyl transfer from carboxybiotinyl enzyme to an appropriate acceptor substrate takes place, the nature of this acceptor being dependent on the specific enzyme involved. In brief, the function of biotin is to mediate the coupling of ATP cleavage to carboxylation. This is accomplished in two stages in which a carboxybiotin intermediate is formed. In transcarboxylation ATP is not needed because activated carbonate, and not HCO3", is the substrate. 

Studies of a variety of hepatic cell lines indicate that uptake of free biotin is similar to intestinal uptake transport is mediated by a specialized carrier system that is Na dependent, electroneutral, and structurally specific for a free carboxyl group. At large concentrations, transport is mediated by diffusion. Metabolic trapping (e.g., biotin bound covalently to intracellular proteins) is also important. After entering the hepatocyte, biotin diffuses into the mitochondria via a pH-dependent process. 

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