Dihydroxyphenylalanine biosynthesis

Tyrosine is the immediate precursor of catecholamines, and tyrosine hydroxylase is the rate-limiting enzyme in catecholamine biosynthesis. Tyrosine hydroxylase is found in both soluble and particle-bound forms only in tissues that synthesize catecholamines it functions as an oxidoreductase, with tetrahydropteridine as a cofactor, to convert L-tyrosine to L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-dopa). 

The biosynthesis of aristolochic acids is considered to begin with 1-ben-zyltetrahydroisoquinoline precursors and to proceed via aporphine intermediates (5). In radioactive labeling studies, Spenser and Tiwari infused d/-tyrosine-2- C into the stem of A. sipho. The C-labeled aristolochic acid I formed lost more than 60% of its radioactivity when it was decarboxylated to the corresponding nitro phenanthrene derivative. Administration of d/-dihydroxyphenylalanine-2- C re-... 

Specific decarboxylases for most of the common amino acids have been isolated. In mammals, a decarboxylase involved in the biosynthesis of neuroactive amines is particularly important. This enzyme decarboxylates 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine and 5-hydroxytryp-tophan (both products of tetrahydrobiopterin-dependent hydroxylations—Section 1.10.5.1) to give 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine and serotonin (equation 10), respectively (70MI11002). 

The hereditary absence of phenylalanine hydroxylase, which is found principally in the liver, is the cause of the biochemical defect phenylketonuria (Chapter 25, Section B).430 4308 Especially important in the metabolism of the brain are tyrosine hydroxylase, which converts tyrosine to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, the rate-limiting step in biosynthesis of the catecholamines (Chapter 25), and tryptophan hydroxylase, which catalyzes formation of 5-hydroxytryptophan, the first step in synthesis of the neurotransmitter 5-hydroxytryptamine (Chapter 25). All three of the pterin-dependent hydroxylases are under complex regulatory control.431 432 For example, tyrosine hydroxylase is acted on by at least four kinases with phosphorylation occurring at several sites.431 433 4338 The kinases are responsive to nerve growth factor and epidermal growth factor,434 cAMP,435 Ca2+ + calmodulin, and Ca2+ + phospholipid (protein kinase C).436 The hydroxylase is inhibited by its endproducts, the catecholamines,435 and its activity is also affected by the availability of tetrahydrobiopterin.436... 

PARK, S.-U., JOHNSON, A.G., PENZES-YOST, C FACCHINI, P.J., Analysis of promoters from tyrosine/dihydroxyphenylalanine decarboxylase and berberine bridge enzyme genes involved in benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis in opium poppy. Plant Mol. Biol., 1999,40,121-131. 

Histamine, serotonin and the catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine) are synthesized from the aromatic amino acids histidine, tryptophan and phenylalanine, respectively. The biosynthesis of catecholamines in adrenal medulla cells and catecholamine-secreting neurons can be simply summarized as follows [the enzyme catalysing the reaction and the key additional reagents are in square brackets] phenylalanine — tyrosine [via liver phenylalanine hydroxylase + tetrahydrobiopterin] —> i.-dopa (l.-dihydroxyphenylalanine) [via tyrosine hydroxylase + tetrahydrobiopterin] —> dopamine (dihydroxyphenylethylamine) [via dopa decarboxylase + pyridoxal phosphate] — norepinephrine (2-hydroxydopamine) [via dopamine [J-hydroxylasc + ascorbate] —> epinephrine (jV-methyl norepinephrine) [via phenylethanolamine jV-methyltransferase + S-adenosylmethionine]. 

Catecholamines are synthesized from the amino acid tyrosine, and serotonin from tryptophan as shown in Figure 29-2. The rate-limiting step in catecholamine biosynthesis involves conversion of tyrosine to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-dopa) by the enzyme, tyrosine hydroxylase. A related enzyme, tryptophan hydroxylase, catalyzes conversion of tryptophan to 5-hydroxytryptophan in the first step of serotonin synthesis. 

The conversion of tyrosine to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine occurs both in vivo in man (590) and in vitro by the action of tissue tyrosinase (205, 688). Mammals can decarboxylate both tyrosine (402,407) and dihydroxyphenyl-alanine (406), tyrosine decarboxylase and dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) decarboxylases being quite distinct and separable (405), though both are dependent on pyridoxal phosphate (73, 758, and review 72). In mammals dihydroxyphenylalanine is the most readily decarboxylated of all amino acids, and it is therefore not unreasonable to assume that this is the substrate normally decarboxylated in adrenaline biosynthesis cf. 74, 75). Support for this concept derives from the fact that both the substrate and the product of the reaction (3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylamine diagram 11) can or do occur in the adrenal (298, 299, 802), and the amine is moreover, like adrenaline and noradrenaline, a normal urinary excretion product (245, 404). 

Diagram 27. Woodward s hypothesis for biosynthesis of strychnine from, ultimately, tryptophan and dihydroxyphenylalanine. 

Biosynthesis. The terminal C-methyl of the propyl side chain, the L-methyl, and the ZV-methyl groups are derived from methionine (19). /ftmf-4-Propyl-L-proline [51101-27-6] was shown to accumulate when Streptomyces lincolnensis is grown in media deficient in sulfur, and the addition of L-tyrosine or L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) was shown to stimulate this production. From a comparison of the incorporation of label from L-[l-14C]tyrosine and l[U-14C tyro sine, it was demonstrated that all of the carbon atoms of the propylproline other than the C-terminal methyl group were derived from tyrosine and, by the use of L-[15N]tyrosine, it was determined that the proline nitrogen atom was derived from the amino—nitrogen atom of tyrosine (20). 

DDC catalyzes the conversion of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) into dopamine (Figure 10), a neurotransmitter found in the nervous system and peripheral tissues of both vertebrates and invertebrates and also in plants where it is implicated in the biosynthesis of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids. " DDC also catalyzes the decarboxylation of tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine and of 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan to give 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin), and, therefore, is also referred to as aromatic amino acid decarboxylase. Inhibitors of DDC, for example, carbiDOPA and benserazide, are currently used in the treatment of Parkinson s disease to increase the amount of l-DOPA in the brain. 

The majority of catecholamine and serotonin biosynthesis occurs within the nerve terminals by synthetic enzymes transported from the neuronal cell bodies. In all catecholamine neurons, the rate-limiting step in synthesis is conversion of tyrosine to dihydroxyphenylalanine by tyrosine hydroxylase. Dihydroxyphenylalanine is then converted to DA, norepinephrine, and epinephrine through a sequential process involving L-aromatic amino acid decarboxylase (conversion of dihydroxyphenylalanine to DA), dopamine-P-hydroxylase (conversion of DA to norepinephrine), and phenylethanol-amine-N-methyltransferase (conversion of norepinephrine to epinephrine). Cell-specific expression of these enzymes determines the main neurotransmitter for an individual catecholamine neuron. The synthesis pathway for serotonin involves a two-step process in which tryptophan hydroxylase first converts tryptophan to 5-hydroxytryptophan, which is then converted to... 

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