Enzyme aconitase

The enzyme aconitase catalyzes the hydration of aconitic acid to two products citric acid and isocitric acid. Isocitric acid is optically active citric acid is not. What are the respective constitutions of citric acid and isocitric acid ... 

In the presence of the enzyme aconitase, the double bond of aconitic acid undergoes hydration. The reaction is reversible, and the following equilibrium is established ... 

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. 

In the EPR of mammalian cells, we do not see much in addition to the signals from the respiratory complexes. The enzyme aconitase from the citric-acid cycle can be detected, and also the protein cytoplasmic aconitase, later identified as the mRNA translation regulatory factor iron regulatory protein IRP-1, which actually started its career in biochemistry as an EPR signal that could not be assigned to the respiratory chain (Kennedy et al. 1992). 

Compared to conventional NMR isotopes (13C, 15N, 2H), 19F-labels cannot be readily placed into proteins in a versatile manner by any biosynthetic expression strategy. Certain auxotrophic bacterial strains can be used to incorporate iso-steric 19F-labelled amino acids (e.g. Fluoro-Phe, Fluoro-Trp, Fluoro-Leu, Fluoro-Ile see Fig. 3), but yields tend to be low. Many other fluoro-organics are toxic if they get converted into fluoroacetic acid, which blocks the enzyme aconitase in the citric... 

Iron-sulfur clusters, such as those found in the enzyme aconitase discussed in Section 7.9.2.1, cannot be treated using the 16-e or 18-e rules. Other frameworks exist to treat large metal clusters, and these have some utility in treating [Fe,cSj,]" clusters. One method treats the number of metal atoms and the metal-metal bonds in a cluster according to the following formula ... 

One large class of non-heme iron-containing biomolecules involves proteins and enzymes containing iron-sulfur clusters. Iron-sulfur clusters are described in Sections 1.7 (Bioorganometallic Chemistry) and 1.8 (Electron Transfer) as well as in Section 3.6 (Mossbauer Spectroscopy). See especially Table 3.2 and the descriptive examples discussed in Section 3.6.4. Iron-sulfur proteins include rubredoxins, ferrodoxins, and the enzymes aconitase and nitrogenase. The nitrogenase enzyme was the subject of Chapter 6 in the hrst edition of this text—see especially Section 6.3 for a discussion of iron-sulfur clusters. In this... 

The Enzyme Aconitase. The enzyme aconitase catalyzes the elimination or addition of water in the second step of the citric acid (Krebs) cycle, catalyzing the interconversion of citrate and isocitrate via cix-aconitate. See reference 8, pages 190-196, Figure 7.49, and equation 7.13. 

Figure 7.49 Formation of isocitrate from citrate as catalyzed by the enzyme aconitase.

Citric acid has three prochiral centres The Krebs cycle is a process involved in the metabolic degradation of carbohydrate (see Section 15.3). It is also called the ciU ic acid cycle, because citric acid was one of the first intermediates identified. Once formed, citric acid is modified by the enzyme aconitase through the intermediate... 

Although this interpretation can be found in most books, the reality is much more complex. Citrate synthase yields the sole (2/f,3/f)-2-fluorocitrate with a large stereoselectivity. This stereomer (and three other ones) does not inhibit aconitase, but it is a substrate of this enzyme. Aconitase cannot afford cw-aconitate by elimination since... 

It is noteworthy that except for the Rieske center in Complex III, Complexes I and 11 are home to all the iron-sulfur clusters in the mitochondrial electron transfer chain and consequently most of the iron-containing carriers in the entire sequence. Hibbs subsequently showed that CAM-injured cells lose a substantial portion of their total intracellular iron (Hibbs et al., 1984) [later studies specifically identified loss of mitochondrial iron (Wharton et al., 1988)] and Drapier and Hibbs (1986) showed that the activity of another iron-sulfur-containing enzyme, aconitase, is also lost. In early 1987 Hibbs reported that the cytostatic actions of CAMs requires the presence of only one component in culture medium, L-arginine (Hibbs et al., 1987b). Thus, the stage was set for the discovery of a unique reactive species that targets intracellular iron, produced by CAMs. 

Welsh, N., Eizirik, D. L., Bendtzen, K., and Sandler, S. (1991a). Interleukin-1/3-induced nitric oxide production in isolated rat pancreatic islets requires gene transcription and may lead to inhibition of Krebs cycle enzyme aconitase. Endocrinology (Baltimore) 129, 3167-3173. 

NO also has cytotoxic effects when synthesized in large quantities, eg, by activated macrophages. For example, NO inhibits metalloproteins involved in cellular respiration, such as the citric acid cycle enzyme aconitase and the electron transport chain protein cytochrome oxidase. Inhibition of the heme-containing cytochrome P450 enzymes by NO is a major pathogenic mechanism in inflammatory liver disease. 

A somewhat different type of reaction is catalyzed by the iron (II) -containing (12) enzyme aconitase, which brings about the interconversion of citric, isocitric, and aconitic acids by hydration and dehydration. 

In contrast, selective inhibition of enzyme activity involves highly specific interactions between the protein and chemical groups on the xenobiotic. An excellent example of this type of inhibition is seen in the toxic effect of fluoroacetate, which is used as a rodenticide. Although fluoroacetate is not directly toxic, it is metabolized to fluoroacetyl-CoA, which enters the citric acid cycle due to its structural similarity to acetyl-CoA (Scheme 3.5). Within the cycle, fluoroacetyl-CoA combines with oxalo-acetate to form fluorocitrate, which inhibits the next enzyme, aconitase, in the cycle [42]. The enzyme is unable to catalyze the dehydration to cis-aconitate, as a consequence of the stronger C-F bond compared with the C-H bond. Therefore, fluorocitrate acts as a pseudosubstrate, which blocks the citric acid cycle and, subsequently, impairs ATP synthesis. 

This naturally occurring toxicant is an analogue of acetate and is incorporated into acetyl CoA (fluoroacetate) and hence into Krebs cycle (TCA cycle) as fluorocitrate. This blocks the enzyme aconitase, as the fluorine atom cannot be removed. The TCA cycle is blocked, and citrate accumulates. The mitochondrial energy supply is disrupted, hence cardiac damage occurs. Lack of oxaloacetate will allow ammonia to accumulate leading to convulsions. 

The enzyme aconitase. which contains the Fe2+ ion at the reactive center, catalyzes the interconversion of citric, isocilric, and aconilic acids. The reaction has been shown to occur through the formation of a single intermediate carbonium ion structure in which the Fc2+ ion is always bound to the same donor aloms. while the interconversion of the substrate occurs through the migration of only protons and electrons. 

The enzyme aconitase catalyzes the isomerization of citric acid to isocitric acid via the intermediate cis-aconitic acid (Scheme 46),530 and various attempts have been made to model this reaction.21 The cobalt Ill) complexes derived from methyl maleate (171) and methyl fumarate (172) have been prepared531 to study intramolecular attack by coordinated hydroxide on the alkene. Generation of the hydroxo species of the maleic acid complex leads to rapid cyclization to give the... 

Answer Oxidation of co-fluorooleate in the /3-oxidation pathway forms fluoroacetyl-CoA in the last pass through the sequence. Entry of fluoroacetyl-CoA into the citric acid cycle produces fluorocitrate, a powerful inhibitor of the enzyme aconitase. As a result of this inhibition, the citric acid cycle shuts down and the flow of reducing equivalents to oxidative phosphorylation is fatally impaired. 

Another example occurs in the citric acid cycle, where the enzyme aconitase catalyzes the elimination of water from citrate to produce aconitate ... 

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