Coenzymes, reduced, regeneration

A biosensor was designed where a dehydrogenase and an enlarged coenzyme are confined behind an ultrafiltration membrane. The amino acid is determined indirectly, by measuring the fluorescence of the reduced coenzyme (kex 360 nm, kfl 460 nm) produced in reaction 22, with the aid of an optical fiber. The coenzyme is regenerated with pyruvate in a subsequent step, as shown in reaction 23. This biosensor was proposed for determination of L-alanine and L-phenylalanine for monitoring of various metabolic diseases and for dietary management363. 

For the asymmetric reduction of ketone and aldehyde derivates, two electrochemical reduction systems using ADH as catalyst were examined (Fig. 22) [108]. In system A, the reduced coenzymes are regenerated using either FNR for NADPH or DP for NADH. Methyl viologen serves as electron mediator between the electrode and FNR/DP. System B contains ADH as sole enzyme, which catalyzes both reduction of substrates and regeneration of cofactors. Phenylethanol is oxidized by ADH accompanied by reduction of NADP+ to NADPH and its oxidation product acetophenone is reduced electrochemically at a glassy carbon cathode. 

As its name implies, the citric acid cycle is a closed loop of reactions in which the product of the hnal step (oxaloacetate) is a reactant in the first step. The intermediates are constantly regenerated and flow continuously through the cycle, which operates as long as the oxidizing coenzymes NAD+ and FAD are available. To meet this condition, the reduced coenzymes NADH and FADH2 must be reoxidized via the electron-transport chain, which in turn relies on oxygen as the ultimate electron acceptor. Thus, the cycle is dependent on the availability of oxygen and on the operation of the electron-transport chain. 

The citric acid cycle is the final pathway for the oxidation of carbohydrate, Upid, and protein whose common end-metabolite, acetyl-CoA, reacts with oxaloacetate to form citrate. By a series of dehydrogenations and decarboxylations, citrate is degraded, releasing reduced coenzymes and 2CO2 and regenerating oxaloacetate. 

In this reaction, pyruvic acid is oxidized to carbon dioxide with formation of acetyl-SCoA and NAD+ is reduced to NADH. As noted in chapter 15, this reaction requires the participation of thiamine pyrophosphate as coenzyme. Here too the NADH formed is converted back to NAD+ by the electron transport chain. As noted above, the acetyl-SCoA is consumed by the citric acid cycle and CoASH is regenerated. 

In oxidative decarboxyiation of pyruvate to acetyi-CoA, the enzyme-bound disulfide-containing coenzyme lipoic acid is also involved. The electron-rich enamine intermediate, instead of accepting a proton, is used to attack a sulfur in the lipoic acid moiety. This leads to fission of the S-S bond, and thereby effectively reduces the lipoic acid fragment. Regeneration of the TPP ylid via the reverse aldol-type... 

Dihydrofolate reductase acts as an auxiliary enzyme for thymidylate synthase. It is involved in the regeneration of the coenzyme N, N -methylene-THF, initially reducing DHF to THF with NADPH as the reductant (see p. 418). The folic acid analogue methotrexate, a frequently used cytostatic agent, is an extremely effective competitive inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase. It leads to the depletion of N, N -methylene-THF in the cells and thus to cessation of DNA synthesis. 

Catalytic Oxidation of NAD(P)H A Continuously Improved Selection of Suitable ROMs This research is triggered hy at least two reasons (1) the importance of NAD(P)H/NAD(P)- - redox couples in biological systems is known, as is known the dependence of oxidation mechanisms on the oxidants [14, 82, 172-174] (2) the possibility of developing amperometric biosensors for NAD(P)+-dependent dehydrogenases. As a consequence, much attention is devoted to the regeneration of these coenzymes in their reduced or oxidized forms for their application in biosensors or in enzymatic synthesis [180]. Here, we are concerned with electrochemical regeneration [181]. 

Regeneration of reduced enzyme In order for ribonucleotide reductase to continue to produce deoxyribonucleotides, the disulfide bond created during the production of the 2 -deoxy carbon must be reduced. The source of the reducing equivalents is thioredoxin—a peptide coenzyme of ribonucleotide reductase. Thioredoxin contains two cysteine residues separated by two amino acids in the peptide chain. The two sulfhydryl groups of thioredoxin donate their hydrogen atoms to ribonucleotide reductase, in the process forming a disulfide bond (see p. 19). 

Since reduced flavins, pteridine derivatives, and PQQ can be readily oxidized by oxygen to regenerate the oxidized forms [59-62], these coenzyme analogs can act as photocatalysts when the oxidation of substrates by the coenzymes occurs photochemically. No appreciable photooxidation of benzyl alcohol by oxygen occurs when aminopterin (AP), lumazine (Lu), or riboflavin-tetraacetate (FI) is used as a photocatalyst in the absence of acid in MeCN. When HC104 is added to this system, however, the flavin and pteridine derivatives are protonated as described above, and each proton-ated species (catH+) can act as an efficient photocatalyst for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol derivatives (X-C6H4CH2OH) by oxygen [70] ... 

The question is therefore, what are the principal requirements of an autotrophic carbon-fixation mechanism An organic molecule serves as a C02 acceptor molecule, which becomes carboxylated by a carboxylase enzyme. This C02 acceptor molecule needs to be regenerated in a reductive autocatalytic cycle. The product that can be drained off from such a metabolic cycle should be a central cellular metabolite, from which all cellular building blocks for polymers can be derived examples of such central metabolites are acetyl-CoA, pyruvate, oxaloacetate, 2-oxoghitarate, phosphoe-nolpyruvate, and 3-phosphoglycerate. Importantly, the intermediates should not be toxic to the cell. The irreversible steps of the pathway are driven by ATP hydrolysis, while the reduction steps are driven by low-potential reduced coenzymes. 

The pathway can be divided into two metabolic cycles (Figure 3.4). In the first cycle, acetyl-CoA is carboxylated to malonyl-CoA, which is subsequently reduced and converted into propionyl-CoA via 3-hydroxypropionate as a free intermediate. Propionyl-CoA is carboxylated to methylmalonyl-CoA, which is subsequently converted to succinyl-CoA the latter is then used to activate L-malate by succinyl-CoA L-malate coenzyme A transferase, which forms L-malyl-CoA and succinate. Succinate is oxidized to L-malate via conventional steps. L-Malyl-CoA, the second characteristic intermediate of this cycle, is cleaved by L-malyl-CoA/P-methylmalyl-CoA lyase, thus regenerating the starting molecule acetyl-CoA and releasing gly-oxylate as a first carbon-fixation product [27]. 

Enoate reductase [153, 154], which occurs in strains of Clostridium or Proteus, and 2-oxo-acid reductase [155] from Proteus vulgaris or P. mirabilis catalyzes the stereospecific reduction of substrates performed directly by reduced methyl-viologen. No nicotinamide coenzyme is required. Methylviologen is regenerable electrochemically. Examples of the reduction of enoates, ketones, and 2-oxo acids are given in [155]. 

In fact, the a-ketoglutarate/glutamate dehydrogenase is a generally applicable method for the regeneration of NAD and NADP in laboratory scale productions. Both components involved are inexpensive and stable. Quite recently, a method for the oxidation of the reduced nicotinamide coenzymes based on bacterial NAD(P)H oxidase has been described [225], This enzyme oxidizes NADH as well as NADPH with low Km values. The product of this reaction is peroxide, which tends to deactivate enzymes, but it can be destroyed simultaneously by addition of catalase. The irreversible peroxide/catalase reaction favours the ADH catalyzed oxidation reaction, and complete conversions of this reaction type are described. 

Indirect Interaction. A substrate is oxidized with an oxidized form of a given enzyme (or coenzyme) to give a corresponding oxidized substrate and a reduced form of the enzyme (or coenzyme). This step is followed directly or indirectly (through the electron-transport system) by the reaction between molecular oxygen and the reduced form of the enzyme to regenerate the active oxidized form of the enzyme. In this way, the oxidation proceeds catalytically. 

Table 1 Enzymes useful for the regeneration of reduced nicotinamide coenzymes...

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