Adenosyl-cobalamin

Co within all compounds of the so-called cobalamin (or B12) family. The biological functions of cobalamin cofactors are defined by their axial substituents either a methyl or an adenosyl group. Both cofactors participate in biosynthesis the former in methyl transfer reactions while the latter is a free radical initiator, abstracting H atoms from substrates. Decades after their initial characterization, the fascination with the biological chemistry of cobalamins remains.1109... 

The fibroblasts do not convert cyanocobalamin or hydroxocobalamin to methylcobalamin or adenosyl-cobalamin, resulting in diminished activity of both N5-methyltetrahydrofolate homocysteine methyltransferase and methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. Supplementation with hydroxocobalamin rectifies the aberrant biochemistry. The precise nature of the underlying defect remains obscure. Diagnosis should be suspected in a child with homocystinuria, methylmalonic aciduria, megaloblastic anemia, hypomethioninemia and normal blood levels of folate and vitamin B12. A definitive diagnosis requires demonstration of these abnormalities in fibroblasts. Prenatal diagnosis is possible. 

It is the role of jV5-methyl THF which is key to understanding the involvement of cobalamin in megaloblastic anaemia. The metabolic requirement for N-methyl THF is to maintain a supply of the amino acid methionine, the precursor of S-adenosyl methionine (SAM), which is required for a number of methylation reactions. The transfer of the methyl group from jV5-methyl THF to homocysteine is cobalamin-dependent, so in B12 deficiency states, the production of SAM is reduced. Furthermore, the reaction which brings about the formation of Ns-methyl THF from N5,N10-methylene THF is irreversible and controlled by feedback inhibition by SAM. Thus, if B12 is unavailable, SAM concentration falls and Ah -methyl THF accumulates and THF cannot be re-formed. The accumulation of AT-methyl THF is sometimes referred to as the methyl trap because a functional deficiency of folate is created. 

The vitamin cobalamin (vitamin Bjj) is reduced and activated in the body to two forms, adeno-sylcobalamin, used by methylmalonyl CoA mutase, and methylcobalamin, formed from methyl-THF in the N-methyl THF-homocysteine methyltransferase reaction. These are the only two enzymes that use vitamin (other than the enzymes that reduce and add an adenosyl group to it). 

This cobalamin-dependent enzyme [EC 2.1.1.13], also known as methionine synthase and tetrahydropteroyl-glutamate methyltransferase, catalyzes the reaction of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate with L-homocysteine to produce tetrahydrofolate and L-methionine. Interestingly, the bacterial enzyme is reported to require 5-adenosyl-L-methionine and FADH2. See also Tetrahydropteroyl-triglutamate Methyltransferase... 

Fig. 2.2.1 Outline of homocysteine metabolism in man. BMT Betaine methyltransferase, cblC cobalamin defect type C, cblD cobalamin defect type D, GNMT def glycine N-methyltransferase deficiency, MAT methionine adenosyl transferase, MeCbl methylcobalamin, Met Synth methionine synthase, MTHFR methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, SAH Hyd dc/S-adenosylhomocys-...

A related cleavage by alkaline cyanide can be viewed as a nucleophilic displacement of the deoxy-adenosyl anion by cyanide. The end product is dicyanocobalamin, in which the loosely bound nucleotide containing dimethyl benzimidazole is replaced by a second cyanide ion. Methyl and other simple alkyl cobalamins are stable to alkaline cyanide. A number of other cleavage reactions of alkyl cobalamins are known.392 393... 

Figure 1 Schematic representation of the molecular structure, numbering of atoms, and designations of pyrrole rings of cobalamins. R = Me is methyl B12 R = Ado is adenosyl-cobalamin (coenzyme B12) X = CN is cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12). Five-membered rings are labeled A-D, and the amide side-chains are labeled a-g.

Although numerous enzymatic reactions requiring vitamin B12 have been described, and 10 reactions for adenosylcobalamin alone have been identified, only three pathways in man have so far been recognized, one of which has only recently been identified (PI). Two of these require the vitamin in the adenosyl form and the other in the methyl form. These cobalamin coenzymes are formed by a complex reaction sequence which results in the formation of a covalent carbon-cobalt bond between the cobalt nucleus of the vitamin and the methyl or 5 -deoxy-5 -adenosyl ligand, with resulting coenzyme specificity. Adenosylcobalamin is required in the conversion of methylmalonate to succinate (Fig. 2), while methylcobalamin is required by a B12-dependent methionine synthetase that enables the methyl group to be transferred from 5-methyltetrahydrofolate to homocysteine to form methionine (Fig. 3). 

S-Methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (EC 5.4.99.2) is a deoxyadenoxyladen-osylcobalamin-dependent enzyme of mitochondria required to catalyze the conversion of methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA. A decrease in the activity of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase leads to the urinary excretion of large amounts of methylmalonic acid (C22). The biochemical lesion may be at the mutase level due to an abnormality of apoenzyme protein or an inability to elaborate the required coenzyme form of vitamin B12> i.e., adenosyl-cobalamin. In rare cases the abnormality may be due to an inability to convert the d form of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase to the l form as a result of a defective racemase (EC 5.1.99.1) (Kll). In patients, the nature of the abnormality can be determined by tissue culture studies (D13) and by clinical trial, since patients with a defect in adenosylcobalamin production will show clinical improvement when treated with very large doses of vitamin B12 (Mil). 

Figure 28-2. The structure of vitamin B12 (cobalamin). Vitamin B12 is composed of a planar corrin ring containing a cobalt atom at the center. The corrin ring system is composed of four pyrrole rings and is similar to porphyrin in heme. The cobalt atom is coordinated to the nitrogens of each pyrrole ring and to a dimethylbenzimidazole group. The R group attached to the sixth coordination site of the cobalt atom in vitamin B12 can be a -CN, -OH, -CH3, or adenosyl group.

Figure 10.12. Vitamin B12. Four coordination sites on the centrai cobait atom are occupied by the nitrogen atoms of the corrin ring, and one by the nitrogen of the dimethyl-benzimidazole nucleotide. The sixth coordination site may be occupied by CN cya-nocobalamin, Mr = 1355.4 OH hydroxocobalamin.Mr = 1346.4 H2O aquocobalamin, Mr = 1347.4 -CH3 methylcobalamin, Mr = 1344.4 and 5 -deoxyadenosine adenosyl-cobalamin, Mr = 1579.6.

As shown in Figure 10.9, the overall reaction of methionine synthetase is the transfer of the methyl group from methyl-tetrahydrofolate to homocysteine. However, the enzyme also requires S-adenosyl methionine and a flavoprotein reducing system in addition to the cobalamin prosthetic group. A common polymorphism of methionine synthetase, in which aspartate is replaced by glycine, is associated with elevated plasma homocysteine in some cases, although it is less important than methylene-tetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphisms (Section 10.3.2.1 Harmon etal., 1999). 

Cobalt accepts a methyl group from methyl-tetrahydrofolate, forming methyl Co +-cobalamin. Transfer of the methyl group onto homocysteine results in the formation of Co+-cobalamin, which can accept a methyl group from methyl-tetrahydrofolate to reform methyl Co +-cobalamin. However, except under strictly anaerobic conditions, demethylated Co+-cobalamin is susceptible to oxidation to Co +-cobalamin, which is catalyticaUy inactive. Reactivation of the enzyme requires reductive methylation, with S-adenosyl methionine as the methyl donor, and a flavoprotein linked to NADPH. For this reductive reactivation to occur, the dimethylbenzimidazole group of the coenzyme must be displaced from the cobalt atom by a histidine residue in the enzyme (Ludwig and Matthews, 1997). 

Vitamin B12 or cobalamin is present in meat and dairy products. Following ingestion, it is transformed into either methylcobalamin or adenosyl-cobalamin. 

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