Enzyme Induction by Biotin

Biotin acts to induce glucokinase, phosphofructokinase, and pyruvate kinase (key enzymes of glycolysis), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (a key enzyme of gluconeogenesis), and holocarboxylase synthetase, acting via a cell-surface receptor linked to formation of cGMP and increased activity of RNA polymerase. The activity of holocarboxylase synthetase (Section 11.2.2) falls in experimental biotin deficiency and increases with a parallel increase in 

Hyperammonemia occurs in biotin deficiency and the functional deficiency associated with lack of holocarboxylase synthetase (Section 11.2.2.1) and bio-tinidase (Section 11.2.3.1). In deficient rats, the activity of ornithine carbamyl-transferase is two - thirds of that in control animals, as a result of decreased gene expression, although the activities of other urea cycle enzymes are unaffected (Maeda etal., 1996). 

In addition to induction of specific proteins, the administration of biotin to deficient rats results in an overall two-fold stimulation of the incorporation of amino acids into proteins. The synthesis of serum albumin in liver is increased two-fold, but at least 10 other proteins show increases in amino incorporation of about five-fold, and some show an eight-fold increase, whereas others show no change (Dakshinamurti and Litvak, 1970 Boeckx and Dakshinamurti, 1974). 

Biotin is essential for cell proliferation. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells appear to take up biotin by a system that is distinct from the sodium-dependent multivitamin transporter that is responsible for intestinal and renal uptake of biotin (Section 11.1). In response to mitogenic stimuli the uptake of biotin increases several-fold, with no change in the activity of the sodium-dependent transporter. At the same time, there is an increase in the rate of expression of methylcrotonyl CoA, propionyl CoA carboxylases, and holocarboxylase 

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