Carbon-oxygen bond formation synthases

Citrate synthase catalyzes the condensation reaction by bringing the substrates into close proximity, orienting them, and polarizing certain bonds. Two histidine residues and an aspartate residue are important players (Figure 1711). One of the histidine residues (His 274) donates a proton to the carbonyl oxygen of acetyl CoA to promote the removal of a methyl proton by Asp 375. Oxaloacetate is activated by the transfer of a proton from His 320 to its carbonyl carbon atom. The concomitant attack of the enol of acetyl CoA on the carbonyl carbon of oxaloacetate results in the formation of a carbon-carbon bond. The newly formed citryl CoA induces additional structural changes in the enzyme. The active site becomes completely enclosed. His 274 participates again as a proton donor to hydrolyze the thioester. Coenzyme A leaves the enzyme, followed by citrate, and the enzyme returns to the initial open conformation. 

All four carboxylases use bicarbonate as their one-carbon substrate and, in all, the biotin is covalently linked by an amide bond between the carboxyl of biotin and an epsilon amino group of a lysyl residue in the holocarboxylase synthase (= biotin ligase) that catalyzes the formation of the covalent bond. Biotinylation of histones is involved in regulation of gene transcription and may also play a role in packaging of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Biotin has also been found to inhibit the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by neutrophils in vitro. 

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