Condensation of acetyl-CoA with oxaloacetate to form citrate

Step 1 is the condensation of acetyl-CoA with oxaloacetate to form citrate, catalyzed by citrate synthase. 

Condensation of Acetyl-CoA with Oxaloacetate to Form Citrate... 

The citric acid cycle begins with the condensation of a molecule of acetyl-CoA with oxaloacetate to form citrate, which is eventually reconverted to oxaloacetate. During this process, two molecules of C02, three molecules of NADH, one molecule of FADH2, and one molecule of GTP are produced. 

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... 

The synthesis of palmitate requires the input of 8 molecules of acetyl CoA, 14 molecules of NADPH, and 7 molecules of ATP. Fatty acids are synthesized in the cytosol, whereas acetyl CoA is formed from pyruvate in mitochondria. Hence, acetyl CoA must be transferred from mitochondria to the cytosol. Mitochondria, however, are not readily permeable to acetyl CoA. Recall that carnitine carries only long-chain fatty acids. The barrier to acetyl CoA is bypassed by citrate, which carries acetyl groups across the inner mitochondrial membrane. Citrate is formed in the mitochondrial matrix by the condensation of acetyl CoA with oxaloacetate (Figyu-e 22.25). When present at high levels, citrate is transported to the cytosol, where it is cleaved hy ATP-citrate lyase. 

Acetyl-CoA enters the citric acid cycle (in the mitochondria of eukaryotes, the cytosol of prokaryotes) as citrate synthase catalyzes its condensation with oxaloacetate to form citrate. 

Fatty acids are predominantly formed in the liver and adipose tissne, as well as the mammary glands during lactation. Fatty acid synthesis occurs in the cytosol (fatty acid oxidation occurs in the mitochondria compartmentalisation of the two pathways allows for distinct regulation of each). Oxidation or synthesis of fats utilises an activated two-carbon intermediate, acetyl-CoA, but the acetyl-CoA in fat synthesis exists temporarily bound to the enzyme complex as malonyl-CoA. Acetyl-CoA is mostly produced from pyruvate (pyruvate dehydrogenase) in the mitochondria it is condensed with oxaloacetate to form citrate, which is then transported into the cytosol and broken down to yield acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate (ATP citrate lyase). 

This reaction is essentially irreversible and the thioester bond of acetyl-S-CoA (CHgCO-SCoA) has a high free energy of hydrolysis (AG° = —31 kJ —7 5 kcal). This energy is utilized in a condensation reaction of acetyl CoA with the enol form of oxaloacetic acid to produce citric acid and CoASH is liberated. The enzyme mediating this reaction, citrate synthase (condensing enzyme), is the first enzyme of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (Krebs cycle) (Fig. 17.4). 

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. 

Citrate synthase binds acetyl CoA, condenses it with oxaloacetate to form citryl CoA, and then hydrolyzes the thioester bond of this intermediate. Why doesn t citrate synthase hydrolyze acetyl CoA ... 

The tricarboxylic acid cycle not only takes up acetyl CoA from fatty acid degradation, but also supplies the material for the biosynthesis of fatty acids and isoprenoids. Acetyl CoA, which is formed in the matrix space of mitochondria by pyruvate dehydrogenase (see p. 134), is not capable of passing through the inner mitochondrial membrane. The acetyl residue is therefore condensed with oxaloacetate by mitochondrial citrate synthase to form citrate. This then leaves the mitochondria by antiport with malate (right see p. 212). In the cytoplasm, it is cleaved again by ATP-dependent citrate lyase [4] into acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate. The oxaloacetate formed is reduced by a cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase to malate [2], which then returns to the mitochondrion via the antiport already mentioned. Alternatively, the malate can be oxidized by malic enzyme" [5], with decarboxylation, to pyruvate. The NADPH+H formed in this process is also used for fatty acid biosynthesis. 

The fumarate released in the urea cycle links the urea cycle with the TCA cycle. This fumarate is hydrated to malate, which is oxidized to oxaloacetate. The carbons of oxaloacetate can stay in the TCA cycle by condensation with acetyl-CoA to form citrate, or they can leave the TCA cycle either by gluconeogenesis to form glucose or by transamination to form aspartate as shown in figure 22.9. Because Krebs was involved in the discoveries of both the urea cycle and the TCA cycle, the interaction between the two cycles shown in figure 22.9 is sometimes referred to as the Krebs bicycle. 

This reaction, which is an aldol condensation followed by a hydrolysis, is catalyzed by citrate synthase. Oxaloacetate first condenses with acetyl CoA to form citryl CoA, which is then hydrolyzed to citrate and CoA. The hydrolysis of citryl CoA, a high-energy thioester intermediate, drives the overall reaction far in the direction of the synthesis of citrate. In essence, the hydrolysis of the thioester powers the synthesis of a new molecule from two precursors. Because this reaction initiates the cycle, it is very important that side reactions be minimized. Let us briefly consider the how citrate synthase prevents wasteful processes such as the hydrolysis of acetyl CoA. 

We can now understand how the wasteful hydrolysis of acetyl CoA is prevented. Citrate synthase is well suited to hydrolyze citryl CoA but not acetyl CoA. How is this discrimination accomplished First, acetyl CoA does not bind to the enzyme until oxaloacetate is bound and ready for condensation. Second, the catalytic residues crucial for hydrolysis of the thioester linkage are not appropriately positioned until citryl CoA is formed. As with hexokinase (Section 16.1.1) and triose phosphate isomerase (Section 16.1.4). induced fit prevents an undesirable side reaction. 

Pyrophosphate is rapidly hydrolyzed, and so the equivalent of four molecules of ATP are consumed in these reactions to synthesize one molecule of urea. The synthesis of fumarate by the urea cycle is important because it links the urea cycle and the citric acid cycle (Figure 23.17). Fumarate is hydrated to malate, which is in turn oxidized to oxaloacetate. Oxaloacetate has several possible fates (1) transamination to aspartate, (2) conversion into glucose by the gluconeogenic pathway, (3) condensation with acetyl CoA to form citrate, or (4) conversion into pyruvate. 

The enol intermediate of acetyl CoA attacks the carbonyl carbon atom of glyoxylate to form a C-C bond. This reaction is like the condensation of oxaloacetate with the enol intermediate of acetyl CoA in the reaction catalyzed by citrate synthase. Glyoxylate contains a hydrogen atom in place of the -CH2COO" group of oxaloacetate the reactions are otherwise nearly identical. 

In the first reaction of the cycle (17) acetyl-CoA combines with oxaloacetic acid to form citric acid. This reaction is energy-requiring and it is driven at the expense of acetyl-CoA. Reduced coenzyme A, CoA-SH, is released in the process, and the enzyme for the reaction is the citrate condensing enzyme. 

Although fatty acid synthesis occurs within the cytoplasm of most animal cells, liver is the major site for this process. (Recall, for example, that liver produces VLDL. See p. 349.) Fatty acids are synthesized when the diet is low in fat and/or high in carbohydrate or protein. Most fatty acids are synthesized from dietary glucose. As discussed, glucose is converted to pyruvate in the cytoplasm. After entering the mitochondrion, pyruvate is converted to acetyl-CoA, which condenses with oxaloacetate, a citric acid cycle intermediate, to form citrate. When mitochondrial citrate levels are sufficiently high (i.e., cellular energy requirements are low), citrate enters the cytoplasm, where it is cleaved to form acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate. The net reaction for the synthesis of palmitic acid from acetyl-CoA is as follows ... 

A FIGURE 8-9 The citric acid cycle, in which acetyl groups transferred from acetyl CoA are oxidized to CO2. In reaction 1, a two-carbon acetyl residue from acetyl CoA condenses with the four-carbon molecule oxaloacetate to form the six-carbon molecule citrate. In the remaining reactions (2-9) each molecule of citrate is eventually converted back to oxaloacetate, losing two CO2 molecules in the process. In each turn of the cycle, four pairs of electrons are removed from carbon atoms, forming... 

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