Enzymes, carbamyl-phosphate

There are two forms of the enzyme carbamyl phosphate synthetase, one in the mitochondrial matrix and the other in the cytoplasm. What might be the consequence and role of this compartmentation of enzymes ... 

Liver of true ureotelic animals (see 401a) contmns the enzyme carbamyl phosphate synthetase which catalyzes the following reaction (2, 402) ... 

Carbamyl phosphate condenses with ornithine to yield citrulline in the ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) reaction. OTC is encoded on band p21.1 of the X chromosome, where the gene contains 8 exons and spans 85 kb of DNA. The activity of this enzyme is directly related to dietary protein. There may be tunneling of ornithine transported from the cytosol to OTC, with the availability of intramitochondrial ornithine serving to regulate the reaction. 

Carbamyl phosphate synthetase deficiency. Carbamyl phosphate synthetase deficiency is rare. Neonates quickly develop lethargy, hypothermia, vomiting and irritability. The hyperammonemia typically is severe, even exceeding 1 mmol/1. Occasional patients with a partial enzyme deficiency have had a relapsing syndrome of lethargy and irritability upon exposure to protein. Brain damage can occur in both neonatal and late-onset groups. 

Ovalbumin Conalbumin Ovomucoid Lysozyme Vitellogenin apo-VLDL Glucose-6-P-dehydrogenase Oviduct Oviduct (liver) Oviduct Oviduct Liver Liver Uterus Thyroid Hormones Carbamyl phosphate synthase Growth hormone Prolactin ( ) a-Glycerophosphate dehydrogenase Malic enzyme Liver Pituitary Pituitary Liver (mitochondria) Liver... 

This is an allosteric enzyme that requires zinc for structural stability. It catalyzes the condensation of carbamyl phosphate with L-aspartate to give carbamyl-L-aspartate and phosphate (equation... 

Carbamyl phosphate synthetase catalyzes the synthesis of carbamyl-P from HCO3-, glutamine, and 2 moles of ATP. The enzyme also catalyzes the HC03 -dependent hydrolysis of ATP. Raushel and Villafranca (5) followed the exchange of from the bridge to the nonbridge position of [y- 0]ATP after Incubation with enzyme and bicarbonate. The exchange rate was O.A times the rate of ADP formation. These results support the formation of carboxy phosphate as the first Intermediate In the catalytic sequence. 

Production of urea by cestodes suggests the existence of the urea (Krebs-Henseleit) cycle, which is shown in Fig. 6.11. One of the key enzymes, arginase, has been widely reported in cestodes (796, 185-187). However, some of the other enzymes, notably carbamyl phosphate synthetase and ornithine transcarbamyl, are either absent or present in only low amounts (39) and it is doubtful if a complete cycle operates in cestodes. It is likely that the urea excreted by tapeworms comes from the activity of arginase alone. The uric acid produced and excreted by cestodes probably arises from the breakdown of purines (39). 

Fig. 6.11. The (Krebs-Henseleit) ornithine cycle. Numbers refer to enzymes as follows. (1) Carbamyl phosphate synthetase (E.C.2.7.2.a). (2) Ornithine transcarbamylase (E.C.2.1.3.3). (3) Arginino-succinate synthetase (E.C.6.3.4.5). (4) Arginino-succinate lyase (E.C.4.3.2.1). (5) Arginase (E.C.3.5.3.1). (After Smyth, 1969.)...

Animal and bacterial enzymes that utilize or synthesize carbamyl phosphate have activity with acetyl phosphate. Acyl phosphatase hydrolyzes both substrates, and maybe involved in the specific dynamic action of proteins. Ornithine and aspartic transcarbamylases also synthesize acetylornithine and acetyl aspartate. Finally, bacterial carbamate kinase and animal carbamyl phosphate synthetase utilize acetyl phosphate as well as carbamyl phosphate in the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate. The synthesis of acetyl phosphate and of formyl phosphate by carbamyl phosphate synthetases is described. The mechanism of carbon dioxide activation by animal carbamyl phosphate synthetase is reviewed on the basis of the findings concerning acetate and formate activation. 

Jhis article discusses the present status of the mechanism of carbamyl phosphate (carbamyl-P) formation and illustrates that the reagents acetyl phosphate (acetyl-P) and carbamyl-P can replace each other with a number of well defined and/or highly purified enzymes. 

A second, cytosolic CPS activity (CPSII) occurs in mammals as part of the CAD trifunctional protein that catalyzes the first three steps of pyrimidine synthesis (CPSII, asparate tran-scarbamoylase, and dihydroorotase). The activities of these three enzymes—CPSII, aspartate transcarbamoylase, and dihydroorotase—result in the production of orotic acid from ammonium, bicarbonate, and ATP. CPSII has no role in ureagenesis, but orotic aciduria results from hepatocellular accumulation of carbamyl phosphate and helps distinguish CPSI deficiency from other UCDs. Defects in CPSI classically present with neonatal acute hyperammonemic encephalopathy. The plasma citrulline and urine orotic acid concentrations are both low. A definitive diagnosis can be established by enzyme assay of biopsied liver tissue or by mutation analysis. 

Figure 9-1 Sites of feedback inhibition in carbamyl phosphate metabolism of E. coli. Note that aspartate trascarbamylase is the first enzyme on the unique pathway to pyrimidine compounds.

Propionyl CoA inhibits A(-acetylglutamate synthetase competitively with respect to acetyl CoA, forming A(-propionylglutamate and reducing the synthesis of A(-acetylglutamate. This is an obligatory activator of carbamyl phosphate synthetase, the first enzyme of urea synthesis. Vitamin B12 deficiency may result in some degree of protein intolerance and hyperammonemia. 

Methylating agents can be generated by chemical ni-trosation of endogenous metabolites. For example, methylamine produced by the decomposition of organic matter can condense with carbamyl phosphate, a precursor of pyrimidines, to form methylurea, which in turn can be nitrosated to yield methylnitrosourea (MNU). Such nitrosation reactions can be catalyzed by bacterial enzymes (35). 

The uiea cycle may be considered to be a mitochondrial pathway, as carbamyl phosphate synthase and ornithine transcarbamylase are mitochondrial enzymes however, the enzymes catalyzing subsequent steps of the pathway arc cytosolic-The steps leading to conversion of citrulline to ornithine occur in the cytosol. Hence, the pathway is shared by the mitochondrial and cytosolic compartments. The fumarate produced by the urea cycle is converted to malate by a cytoplasmic form of fumarase. Mittxihondrial fumarase is part of the Krebs cycle. Cytoplasmic malate can enter the mitochondrion by means of a transport system, such as the malate/phosphate exchanger or the ma ate/a-ketoglutaratc exchanger. These transport systems are membrane-bound proteins. 

Figure 47-SO The major metabolic pathways for the use of ammonia by the hepatocyte. Solid bars indicate the sites of primary enzyme defects in various metabolic disorders associated with hyperammonemia /) carbamyl phosphate synthetase I, (2) ornithine transcarbamylase, (3) argininosuccinate synthetase, (4) argininosuccinate lyase, (5) arginase, (6) mitochondrial ornithine transport, (7) propionyi CoA carboxylase, (fi) methylmalonyl CoA mutase, (9) L-lysine dehydrogenase, and (10) N-acetyl glutamine synthetase. Dotted lines indicate the site of pathway activation (+) or inhibition ( ). (From Flannery OB, Hsia YE, Wolf 6. Current status of /lyperommofiemjo syndromes. Hepatology 1982 2 495-506,)...

Defects of the enzymes mediating all four reactions of the urea cycle proper have now been established, and there is some evidence of the existence of a fifth enzyme defect, involving carbamyl phosphate synthetase, mediating the initial reaction of the pathway. As the first report of a metabolic disorder involving the urea cycle was only in 1958, it is not surprising that there have been very few reviews of this topic, that of Efron (El) being the most complete to date. 

The first step in the formation of urea from ammonia is its combination with bicarbonate to form carbamyl phosphate (Fig. 1). This contributes only one nitrogen atom to urea, the other being donated by aspartic acid in the third step of the pathway. A -Acetylglutamate is required as cofactor, and the presence of Mg is essential, ATP being converted to ADP in the process. The reaction is catalyzed by carbamyl phosphate synthetase (carbamate kinase EC 2.7.2.2). It has been shown that there are probably two forms of this enzyme, at least in rat liver. One is ammonia dependent, is primarily associated with mitochondria, and may be the enzyme responsible for the formation of carbamyl phosphate in the synthesis of urea. The other, which is glutamine dependent, is probably mainly extramitochondrial and may supply the carbamyl phosphate used... 

It must be noted that only few results have been obtained on fresh biopsy specimens most have been from specimens which have been stored in the frozen state for some time or from specimens of liver which have been removed at necropsy at varying unstated periods after death and kept deep frozen at —15°C for various periods of time before analysis. There is some evidence from our results that at least two, carbamyl phosphate synthetase and ornithine transcarbamylase, of the urea cycle enzyme activities fall off on storage at — 15°C for even 1 day, and this decrease continues over longer periods. Thus carbamyl phosphate synthetase activity in fresh mouse liver is in our experience appreciably higher than in liver kept frozen for some days or weeks. This is borne out by a comparison of the enzyme activities found in human liver obtained by biopsy, measured immediately, after storage at —15°C, and finally in liver obtained at necropsy (Fig. 6). Ornithine transcarbamylase activity in a human biopsy specimen of liver is greater when assayed immediately than when it is kept frozen even a short time or... 

The utilization of ammonia resulting from the combination of carbamyl phosphate with aspartic acid, the initial reaction for the synthesis of the pyrimidine nucleotides, continues only as long as there is a requirement for them (Fig. 3). Regulation of this biosynthetic pathway is probably by way of feedback inhibition of aspartate transcarbamylase. The rat liver enzyme is inhibited by uridine, cytidine or thymidine or such derivatives as CMP, UTP, or TMP, all intermediates or products of this pathway (B8). This is not the only enzyme of the pathway which may be subject to feedback regulation. Dihydroorotase from rat liver is also inhibited by some pyrimidines and purines (B9). 

This enzyme catalyzes the transfer of the carbamyl group from carbamyl phosphate to ornithine, forming citrulline. Two methods are used, the first in Tris buffer at pH 7.0, and the second in glycylglycine buffer at pH 8.3. 

In this method, a blank containing an inhibitor is necessary since carbamyl phosphate will transfer its carbamyl group not only to ornithine, but also to the glycylglycine used for the buffer, and because there is a slow chemical combination of carbamyl phosphate and ornithine. The error is too small to be detectable by the color reaction of Brown and Cohen, but large enough to be apparent when the more sensitive reagent is used. The blank contains all the reactants, with the addition of phenyl mercuric borate (Famosept), which inhibits the enzyme-catalyzed formation of citrulline, but has no effect on its noncatalyzed chemical formation. 

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