Cytosolic acetyl CoA

It may seem surprising that isocitrate dehydrogenase is strongly regulated, because it is not an apparent branch point within the TCA cycle. However, the citrate/isocitrate ratio controls the rate of production of cytosolic acetyl-CoA, because acetyl-CoA in the cytosol is derived from citrate exported from the mitochondrion. (Breakdown of cytosolic citrate produces oxaloacetate and acetyl-CoA, which can be used in a variety of biosynthetic processes.) Thus, isocitrate dehydrogenase activity in the mitochondrion favors catabolic TCA cycle activity over anabolic utilization of acetyl-CoA in the cytosol. 

Providing Cytosolic Acetyl-CoA and Reducing Power for Fatty Acid Synthesis... 

Amino acid degradation produces cytosolic acetyl-CoA. 

Calculating energy costs for the synthesis of a CK, fatty acid from acetyl-CoA is not as simple as you might first think. The major complication is that acetyl-CoA is made in the mitochondria, but fatty acid synthesis occurs in the cytosol—acetyl-CoA can t cross the mitochondrial membrane. Acetyl-CoA gets out of the mitochondria disguised as citrate. The acetyl-CoA is condensed with oxaloacetate to give citrate, and the citrate leaves the mitochondria. In the cytosol, the citrate is cleaved by an ATP-dependent citrate lyase into acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate ... 

The six-membered aromatic A ring originates from three units of malonyl-CoA, produced from citrate precursors through the activity of a cytosolic acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) (Fatland and others 2004) (see Fig. 5.1). These three malonyl-CoA units are added through sequential decarboxylation condensation reactions and actually represent the first committed step toward flavonoid biosynthesis. 

The basic building block for fatty acid synthesis is acetyl-CoA, produced from glucose, fructose or amino acids (Figure 11.1). Acetyl-CoA formation from these precursors occurs within the mitochondrion and so, because fatty acid synthesis occurs in the cytosol, acetyl-CoA must be transported across the mitochondrial membrane. Trans-... 

Citrate is transported across the mitochondrial membrane by a specific carrier. In the cytosol, acetyl-CoA is reformed in a reaction catalysed by ATP citrate lyase (Figure 11.3). This reaction involves the hydrolysis of ATP ... 

Coumaroyl-CoA is produced from the amino acid phenylalanine by what has been termed the general phenylpropanoid pathway, through three enzymatic conversions catalyzed by phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H), and 4-coumarate CoA ligase (4CL). Malonyl-CoA is formed from acetyl-CoA by acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) (Figure 3.2). Acetyl-CoA may be produced in mitochondria, plastids, peroxisomes, and the cytosol by a variety of routes. It is the cytosolic acetyl-CoA that is used for flavonoid biosynthesis, and it is produced by the multiple subunit enzyme ATP-citrate lyase that converts citrate, ATP, and Co-A to acetyl-CoA, oxaloacetate, ADP, and inorganic phosphate. ... 

In addition to its importance in providing cytosolic acetyl-CoA and NADPH, citrate also serves as a major regulator of the rate of fatty acid synthesis. As we shall see (chapter 18) citrate is a strong positive modifier of the first reaction in fatty acid synthesis. It should be remembered (see chapter 12) that citrate also is a negative modifier of phosphofructokinase and thereby exerts a negative effect on glycolysis, which also occurs in the cytosol. 

The basic starting substrate for fatty acid synthesis is acetyl-CoA (see below). In ruminants, the provision of this substrate is straightfoward. Acetate from blood (+ CoA + ATP) is converted by the cytosolic acetyl-CoA synthase (EC 2.3.1.169) to AMP and acetyl-CoA, which can then be used for fatty acid synthesis. In non-ruminants, glucose is converted via the glycolytic pathway to pyruvate, which is, in turn, converted to acetyl-CoA in mitochondria. Acetyl-CoA thus formed is converted to citrate which passes out to the cytosol where it is cleaved by ATP-citrate lyase (EC 2.3.3.8) to acetyl-CoA + oxalacetate (OAA). This transport of acetyl-CoA from... 

Figure 22.25. Transfer of Acetyl CoA to the Cytosol. Acetyl CoA is transferred from mitochondria to the cytosol, and the reducing potential NADH is concomitantly converted into that of NADPH by this series of reactions.

Cholesterol is synthesized from cytosolic acetyl CoA by a sequence of s reactions. 

Cytosolic acetyl CoA forms acetoacetyl CoA, which condenses with another acetyl CoA to form HMG CoA. 

The biosynthetic reactions involve a series of condensation processes and are distributed between cytosol and microsomes. All of the carbons of cholesterol are derived from acetyl-CoA, 15 from the methyl and 12 from the carboxyl carbon atoms. Acetyl-CoA is derived from mitochondrial oxidation of metabolic fuels (e.g., fatty acids) and transported to cytosol as citrate (Chapter 18) or by activation of acetate (e.g., derived from ethanol oxidation) by cytosolic acetyl-CoA synthase (Chapter 18). All of the reducing equivalents are provided by NADPH. 

Acetyl CoA is converted to malonyl CoA and into fatty acids as described previously. The enzyme that carries out the first committed step for fatty-acid synthesis, acetyl CoA carboxylase, is finely controlled both allosterically and covalently. This enzyme can occur in a monomeric inactive form or a polymeric active form. One factor that affects this is citrate, which stimulates the polymeric or active form of acetyl CoA carboxylase. Thus, citrate plays an important role in lipogenesis as (1) a source of cytosolic acetyl CoA, (2) an allosteric positive effector of acetyl CoA carboxylase, and (3) a provider of oxaloacetate in the cytosol, which can allow transhydrogenation from NADH to NADPH. An allosteric inhibitor of acetyl CoA carboxylase that causes dissociation to the monomeric form is fatty-acyl CoA. Thus, if exogenous fatty acids are available, there is little reason to synthesize more fatty acids. Fatty-acyl CoA in the cytosol decreases malonyl CoA formation by inhibiting acetyl CoA carboxylase. 

Adipocytes readily convert the products of glycolysis into fatty acids via the de novo biosynthetic pathway (Chapter 6). Briefly, surplus citrate is transported from the mitochondrion and cleaved to produce cytosolic acetyl-CoA. This acetyl-CoA is acted upon by acetyl-CoA carboxylase producing malonyl-CoA. The next steps of the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway are carried out by the multifunctional fatty acid synthase that utilizes NADPH to catalyze multiple condensations of malonyl-CoA with acetyl-CoA or the elongating lipid, eventually generating palmitate. 

Pyruvate, citrate, a-ketoglutarate and malate, ADP, ATP, and phosphate (as well as many other compounds) have specific transporters in the inner mitochondrial membrane that transport compounds between the mitochondrial matrix and cytosol in exchange for a compound of similar charge. In contrast, CoASH, acetyl CoA, other CoA derivatives, NAD and NADH, and oxaloacetate, are not transported at a metabolically significant rate. To obtain cytosolic acetyl CoA, many cells transport citrate to the cytosol, where it is cleaved to acetyl CoA and oxaloacetate by citrate lyase. 

Acetoacetate can be activated to acetoacetyl CoA in the cytosol by an enzyme similar to the acyl CoA synthetases. This acetoacetyl CoA can be used directly in cholesterol synthesis. It also can be cleaved to two molecules of acetyl CoA by a cytosolic thiolase. Cytosolic acetyl CoA is required for processes such as acetylcholine synthesis in neuronal cells. 

When an excess of dietary carbohydrate is consumed, glucose is converted to acetyl CoA, which provides the 2-carbon units that condense in a series of reactions on the fatty acid synthase complex, producing palmitate (see Fig. 33.1). Palmitate is then converted to other fatty acids. The fatty acid synthase complex is located in the cytosol, and, therefore, it uses cytosolic acetyl CoA. 

The generation of cytosolic acetyl CoA from pyruvate is stimulated by elevation of the insulin/glucagon ratio after a carbohydrate meal. Insulin activates pyruvate dehydrogenase by stimulating the phosphatase that dephosphorylates the enzyme to... 

Cytosolic acetyl CoA is converted to malonyl CoA, which serves as the immediate donor of the 2-carbon units that are added to the growing fatty acid chain on the fatty acid synthase complex. To synthesize malonyl CoA, acetyl CoA carboxylase adds a carboxyl group to acetyl CoA in a reaction requiring biotin and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (Fig. 33.10). 

Both malate enzyme and citrate lyase are part of the shuttle system that transports two-carbon units from the mitochondrion to the cytosol. Malate enzyme also generates reducing power in the form of NADPH, which is used for fatty acid synthesis however, the pentose phosphate pathway (see the text. Section 20.3) also serves as a source of NADPH, so that fatty acid synthesis can continue even if malate enzyme is deficient. Recall from page 515 of the text that malate can cross the mitochondrial membrane. Citrate lyase is more critical to fatty acid synthesis because it is required to generate acetyl CoA from citrate in the cytosol. Without cytosolic acetyl CoA, fatty acid synthesis cannot take place, and the cells cannot grow and divide. 

Acetyl-CoA has already been mentioned as a key precursor for many industrially relevant compounds. For example, it is a direct precursor for the mevalonate pathway to obtain isoprenoids. It is also a key precursor for malonyl-CoA, yielding the production of fatty acids (biodiesel) and polyketides [19]. The challenge of engineering the acetyl-CoA availability in yeast lies in its compartmentalization. While acetyl-CoA is readily available in the mitochondrium, the cytosolic pool is low. The cytosolic pool of acetyl-CoA is fed from acetate, which is activated by a bond to coenzyme A at the expense of 1 ATP. It becomes therefore obvious that any metabolic pathway using cytosolic acetyl-CoA aiming at mass production is energetically detrimental and inefficient - if not recombinantly redesigned [20]. 

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