Citric acid cycle citrate isomerization

Reaction 4 is, again, a component of the citric acid cycle. This isomerization prepares the molecule for subsequent oxidation and decarboxylation by moving the hydroxyl group of citrate from a tertiary to a secondary position. 

Citrate is isomerized to isocitrate by the enzyme aconitase (aconitate hydratase) the reaction occurs in two steps dehydration to r-aconitate, some of which remains bound to the enzyme and rehydration to isocitrate. Although citrate is a symmetric molecule, aconitase reacts with citrate asymmetrically, so that the two carbon atoms that are lost in subsequent reactions of the cycle are not those that were added from acetyl-CoA. This asymmetric behavior is due to channeling— transfer of the product of citrate synthase directly onto the active site of aconitase without entering free solution. This provides integration of citric acid cycle activity and the provision of citrate in the cytosol as a source of acetyl-CoA for fatty acid synthesis. The poison fluo-roacetate is toxic because fluoroacetyl-CoA condenses with oxaloacetate to form fluorocitrate, which inhibits aconitase, causing citrate to accumulate. 

Perhaps the best characterized example of a subsite differentiated [4Fe-4S] protein is aconitase, which catalyzes the citrate-isocitrate isomerization in the citric acid cycle (257). Aconitase isolated aerobically is inactive and contains a [3Fe-4S] cluster. Activity is restored by incubation with Fe and this also reconstitutes the [4Fe-4S] cluster. Oxidation of the core results in loss of the fourth iron atom, regenerating the [3Fe-4S] form. Mossbauer studies have demonstrated that only one of the four iron sites is exchanged (258). X-ray studies on both [3Fe-4S] and [4Fe-4S] forms of pig heart aconitase 258a) showed that insertion of iron into [3Fe-4S] occurs isomorphously. The positions of the common atoms in the two forms of the core agree to within 0.1 A, supporting the view of the [3Fe-4S] cluster as an iron-voided cubane. A similar result was obtained for the seven iron ferredoxin from Azo-... 

In some cases, separate proteins have been fused together at the genetic level to create a single multidomain, multifunctional enzyme (Figure 3-20c). For instance, the isomerization of citrate to isocitrate in the citric acid cycle is catalyzed by aconitase, a single polypeptide that carries out two separate reactions (1) the dehydration of citrate to form cis-aconitate and then (2) the hydration of ds-aconitate to yield isocitrate (see Figure 8-9). 

A wide range of metal ions is present in metalloenzymes as cofactors. Copper zinc snperoxide dismntase is a metalloenzyme that nses copper and zinc to help catalyze the conversion of snperoxide anion to molecnlar oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. Thermolysin is a protease that nses a tightly bonnd zinc ion to activate a water atom, which then attacks a peptide bond. Aconitase is one of the enzymes of the citric acid cycle it contains several iron atoms bonnd in the form of iron-sulfur clusters, which participate directly in the isomerization of citrate to isocitrate. Other metal ions fonnd as cofactors in metalloenzymes include molybdenum (in nitrate rednctase), seleninm (in glutathione peroxidase), nickel (in urease), and vanadinm (in fungal chloroperoxidase). see also Catalysis and Catalysts Coenzymes Denaturation Enzymes Krebs Cycle. 

The glyoxylate cycle (Figure 17.21), like the citric acid cycle, begins with the condensation of acetyl CoA and oxaloacetate to form citrate, which is then isomerized to isocitrate. Instead of being decarboxylated, isocitrate is cleaved by isocitrate lyase into succinate and glyoxylate. The subsequent steps regenerate oxaloacetate from glyoxylate. Acetyl CoA condenses with... 

Step 2. Isomerization of Citrate to Isocitrate The second reaction of the citric acid cycle, the one catalyzed by aconitase, is the isomerization of citrate to isocitrate. The enzyme requires Fe +. One of the most interesting features of the reaction is that citrate, a symmetrical (achiral) compound, is converted to isocitrate, a chiral compound, a molecule that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image. 

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