Citric acid cycle acetyl CoA

A third fate of pyruvate is its carboxylation to oxaloacetate inside mitochondria, the first step in gluconeogenesis. This reaction and the subsequent conversion of oxaloacetate into phosphoenolpyruvate bypass an irreversible step of glycolysis and hence enable glucose to be synthesized from pyruvate. The carboxylation of pyruvate is also important for replenishing intermediates of the citric acid cycle. Acetyl CoA activates pyruvate carboxylase, enhancing the synthesis of oxaloacetate, when the citric acid cycle is slowed by a paucity of this intermediate. 

In each turn of the citric acid cycle, acetyl CoA condenses with the four-carbon molecule oxaloacetate to form the six-carbon citrate, which is converted back to oxaloacetate by a series of reactions that release two molecules of CO2 and generate three NADH molecules, one FADH2 molecule and one GTP (see Figure 8-9). 

Acetyl CoA carries two-carbon remnants of the nutrients, acetyl groups, to the citric acid cycle. Acetyl CoA enters the cycle, and electrons and hydrogen atoms are harvested during the complete oxidation of the acetyl group to CO2. Coenzyme A is released (recycled) to carry additional acetyl groups to the pathway. The electrons and hydrogen atoms that are harvested are used in the process of oxidative phosphorylation to produce ATP. 

Lack of oxaloacetate prevents acetyl-CoA entry into the citric acid cycle acetyl-CoA accumulates. 

See also Citrate Synthase, Citrate, Citric Acid Cycle, Acetyl-CoA, Oxaloacetate... 

In the first reaction of the citric acid cycle, acetyl-CoA reacts with oxaloacetate to form citrate. The mechanism for the reaction shows that an aspartate side chain of the enzyme removes a proton from the a-carbon of acetyl-CoA, creating an enolate ion. This enolate ion adds to the keto carbonyl carbon of oxaloacetate and the carbonyl oxygen picks up a proton from a histidine side chain. This is similar to an aldol addition where the a-carbanion (enolate ion) of one molecule is the nucleophile and the carbonyl carbon of another is the electrophile (Section 18.10). The intermediate (a thioester) that results is hydrolyzed to citrate in a nucleophilic addition-elimination reaction (Section 16.9). 

Pymvate carboxylase, the first irreversible enzyme in gluconeogenesis, also is a regulatory enzyme. Pymvate can be converted to oxaloacetate (by pymvate carboxylase) or it can be converted to acetyl-CoA (by the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex), which then enters the citric acid cycle. Acetyl-CoA is an allosteric activator of pymvate... 

Fatty acids are oxidized completely to CO2 and water by )8-oxidation and the citric acid cycle. Acetyl CoA is the end product of )8-oxidation of fatty acids and is the source of carbon for fatty acid biosynthesis. Yet, the pathways for fatty acid degradation and synthesis are so very different that they even occur within different compartments within cells. Fatty acid synthesis takes place in the cytoplasm of animal cells and in the plastids of plant cells, whereas )8-oxidation is located in mitochondria in both animal and plant cells. 

The dicarboxylate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle starts from acetyl-CoA, which is reductively carboxylated to pyruvate. Pyruvate is converted to PEP and then car-boxylated to oxaloacetate. The latter is reduced to succinyl-CoA by the reactions of an incomplete reductive citric acid cycle. Succinyl-CoA is reduced to 4-hydroxybu-tyrate, the subsequent conversion of which into two acetyl-CoA molecules proceeds in the same way as in the 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle. The cycle can be divided into part 1 transforming acetyl-CoA, one C02 and one bicarbonate to succinyl-CoA via pyruvate, PEP, and oxaloacetate, and part 2 converting succinyl-CoA via 4-hydroxybutyrate into two molecules of acetyl-CoA. This cycle was shown to function in Igrticoccus hospitalis, an anaerobic autotrophic hyperther-mophilic Archaeum (Desulfurococcales) [40]. Moreover, this pathway functions in Thermoproteus neutrophilus (Thermoproteales), where the reductive citric acid cycle was earlier assumed to operate, but was later disproved (W.H. Ramos-Vera et al., unpublished results). 

Since pyruvic acid carboxylation via the malic enzyme is the main source of oxaloacetate, slow glycolysis may result in deceleration of the Krebs cycle. The slowing down of glycolysis may result from reduced enzyme activity or from insufficient amounts of substrate the former possibility has been eliminated by the experiments of Chaikoff and his group. These investigators injected lactate, pyruvate, and acetate, and measured their conversion to CO2. They observed that CO2 formation was the same in diabetics as in nondiabetics. Insufficiency of Krebs cycle substrate is also unlikely, because CO2 production, which is derived mainly from the tricarboxylic acid cycle, is unimpaired in diabetes. In addition to being used for citric acid formation, acetyl CoA is also a key building block for fatty acids. 

SiPEBSTEiN 1959) and the stimulation by acids of the tricarboxylic acid cycle has been interpreted in this sense (Abbaham et al. 1960). On the other hand, the activation by tricarboxylic acids, particularly citric acid, of acetyl-CoA carboxylase has been explained by a favorable change of the protein conformation (Vagelos et al. 1963). Also it has been shown that the stimulation of fatty acid synthesis is caused by an incorporation of acetyl-CoA after fission of citrate according to the following equation (Spenceb et al. 1962) ... 

The combustion of the acetyl groups of acetyl-CoA by the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation to produce COg and HgO represents stage 3 of catabolism. The end products of the citric acid cycle, COg and HgO, are the ultimate waste products of aerobic catabolism. As we shall see in Chapter 20, the oxidation of acetyl-CoA during stage 3 metabolism generates most of the energy produced by the cell. 

Certain of the central pathways of intermediary metabolism, such as the citric acid cycle, and many metabolites of other pathways have dual purposes—they serve in both catabolism and anabolism. This dual nature is reflected in the designation of such pathways as amphibolic rather than solely catabolic or anabolic. In any event, in contrast to catabolism—which converges to the common intermediate, acetyl-CoA—the pathways of anabolism diverge from a small group of simple metabolic intermediates to yield a spectacular variety of cellular constituents. 

Oxidation of 2 molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate yields 2 NADH Pyruvate conversion to acetyl-CoA (mitochondria) 2 NADH Citric acid cycle (mitochondria) 2 molecules of GTP from 2 molecules of succinyl-CoA + 2 + 2... 

The first step in the citric acid cycle is reaction of oxaloacetate with acetyl CoA to give citrate. Propose a mechanism, using acid or base catalysis as needed. 

Enzymes work by bringing reactant molecules together, holding them, in the orientation necessary for reaction, and providing any necessary acidic or basic sites to catalyze specific steps. As an example, let s look at citrate synthase, an enzyme that catalyzes the aldol-like addition of acetyl CoA to oxaloacetate to give citrate. The reaction is the first step in the citric acid cycle, in which acetyl groups produced by degradation of food molecules are metabolized to yield C02 and H20. We ll look at the details of the citric acid cycle in Section 29.7. 

Stage 3 Acetyl CoA is oxidized in the citric acid cycle to give CO2-... 

The conversion occurs through a multistep sequence of reactions catalyzed by a complex of enzymes and cofactors called the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. The process occurs in three stages, each catalyzed by one of the enzymes in the complex, as outlined in Figure 29.11 on page 1152. Acetyl CoA, the ultimate product, then acts as fuel for the final stage of catabolism, the citric acid cycle. All the steps have laboratory analogies. 

The initial stages of catabolism result in the conversion of both fats and carbohydrates into acetyl groups that are bonded through a thioester link to coenzyme A. Acetyl CoA then enters the next stage of catabolism—the citric acid cycle, also called the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, or Krebs tycle, after Hans Krebs, who unraveled its complexities in 1937. The overall result of the cycle is the conversion of an acetyl group into two molecules of C02 plus reduced coenzymes by the eight-step sequence of reactions shown in Figure 29.12. 

Step 1 of Figure 29.12 Addition to Oxaloacetate Acetyl CoA enters the citric acid cycle in step 1 by nucleophilic addition to the oxaloacetate carbonyl group, to give (S)-citryl CoA. The addition is an aldol reaction and is catalyzed by citrate synthase, as discussed in Section 26.11. (S)-Citryl CoA is then hydrolyzed to citrate by a typical nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction, catalyzed by the same citrate synthase enzyme. 

The primary fate of acetyl CoA under normal metabolic conditions is degradation in the citric acid cycle to yield C02. When the body is stressed by prolonged starvation, however, acetyl CoA is converted into compounds called ketone bodies, which can be used by the brain as a temporary fuel. Fill in the missing information indicated by the four question marks in the following biochemical pathway for the synthesis of ketone bodies from acetyl CoA ... 

Citric acid cycle (Section 29.7) The metabolic pathway by which acetyl CoA is degraded to CO2. 

The nature of the diet sets the basic pattern of metabohsm. There is a need to process the products of digestion of dietary carbohydrate, lipid, and protein. These are mainly glucose, fatty acids and glycerol, and amino acids, respectively. In ruminants (and to a lesser extent in other herbivores), dietary cellulose is fermented by symbiotic microorganisms to short-chain fatty acids (acetic, propionic, butyric), and metabohsm in these animals is adapted to use these fatty acids as major substrates. All the products of digestion are metabohzed to a common product, acetyl-CoA, which is then oxidized by the citric acid cycle (Figure 15-1). 

Glucose is metabolized to pyruvate by the pathway of glycolysis, which can occur anaerobically (in the absence of oxygen), when the end product is lactate. Aerobic tissues metabolize pyruvate to acetyl-CoA, which can enter the citric acid cycle for complete oxidation to CO2 and HjO, linked to the formation of ATP in the process of oxidative phosphorylation (Figure 16-2). Glucose is the major fuel of most tissues. 

Figure 15-1. Outline of the pathways for the catabolism of dietary carbohydrate, protein, and fat. All the pathways lead to the production of acetyl-CoA, which is oxidized in the citric acid cycle, ultimately yielding ATP in the process of oxidative phosphorylation.

As with acetyl-CoA arising from glycolysis, it is oxidized to COj + HjO via the citric acid cycle. 

Nearly all products of digestion of carbohydrate, fat, and protein are metabolized to a common metabolite, acetyl-CoA, before final oxidation to CO2 in the citric acid cycle. 

The citric acid cycle (Krebs cycle, tricarboxylic acid cycle) is a series of reactions in mitochondria that oxidize acetyl residues (as acetyl-CoA) and reduce coenzymes that upon reoxidation are linked to the formation of ATP. 

The citric acid cycle is the final common pathway for the aerobic oxidation of carbohydrate, lipid, and protein because glucose, fatty acids, and most amino acids are metabolized to acetyl-CoA or intermediates of the cycle. It also has a central role in gluconeogenesis, lipogenesis, and interconversion of amino acids. Many of these processes occur in most tissues, but the hver is the only tissue in which all occur to a significant extent. The repercussions are therefore profound when, for example, large numbers of hepatic cells are damaged as in acute hepatitis or replaced by connective tissue (as in cirrhosis). Very few, if any, genetic abnormalities of citric acid cycle enzymes have been reported such ab-normahties would be incompatible with life or normal development. 

The citric acid cycle is an integral part of the process by which much of the free energy liberated during the oxidation of fuels is made available. During oxidation of acetyl-CoA, coenzymes are reduced and subsequendy reoxidized in the respiratory chain, hnked to the formation of ATP (oxicktive phosphorylation see Figure 16-2 and also Chapter 12). This process is aerobic, requiring oxygen as the final oxidant of the reduced coenzymes. The enzymes of the citric acid cycle are lo-... 

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