Enzymes carbohydrate biosynthesis

Both the aldol and reverse aldol reactions are encountered in carbohydrate metabolic pathways in biochemistry (see Chapter 15). In fact, one reversible transformation can be utilized in either carbohydrate biosynthesis or carbohydrate degradation, according to a cell s particular requirement. o-Fructose 1,6-diphosphate is produced during carbohydrate biosynthesis by an aldol reaction between dihydroxyacetone phosphate, which acts as the enolate anion nucleophile, and o-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, which acts as the carbonyl electrophile these two starting materials are also interconvertible through keto-enol tautomerism, as seen earlier (see Section 10.1). The biosynthetic reaction may be simplihed mechanistically as a standard mixed aldol reaction, where the nature of the substrates and their mode of coupling are dictated by the enzyme. The enzyme is actually called aldolase. 

In Box 10.4 we saw that an aldol-like reaction could be used to rationalize the biochemical conversion of dihydroxyacetone phosphate (nucleophile) and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (electrophile) into fructose 1,6-diphosphate by the enzyme aldolase during carbohydrate biosynthesis. The reverse reaction, used in the glycolytic pathway for carbohydrate metabolism, was formulated as a reverse aldol reaction. 

Reduction of the disulfide bond of cystine is used to activate enzymes of photosynthetic carbohydrate biosynthesis in plants. The reductant is a small protein called thioredoxin. Thioredoxin also serves as a reductant for the biosynthesis of deoxynucleotides in animals and microorganisms as well as in plants. 

PCK1 Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, key enzyme in gluconeogenesis, catalyzes early reaction in carbohydrate biosynthesis, glucose represses transcription and accelerates mRNA degradation, regulated by Mcmlp and Cat8p, located in the cytosol... 

It has been demonstrated that carbohydrate analogues are capable of inhibiting specific enzymes involved in the carbohydrate biosynthesis, offering the potential to engineer the synthesis of different carbohydrates. This has proved of use for aborting the synthesis of disease associated carbohydrates that are central to the infection pathway [13]. 

NAD and NADP are required as redox coen2ymes by a large number of enzymes and ia particular dehydrogenases (Fig. 6). NAD" is utilized ia the catabohe oxidations of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, whereas NADPH2 is the coenzyme for anaboHc reactions and is used ia fats and steroid biosynthesis. NADP+ is also used ia the cataboHsm of carbohydrates (2). 

As we began this chapter, we saw that photosynthesis traditionally is equated with the process of COg fixation, that is, the net synthesis of carbohydrate from COg. Indeed, the capacity to perform net accumulation of carbohydrate from COg distinguishes the phototrophic (and autotrophic) organisms from het-erotrophs. Although animals possess enzymes capable of linking COg to organic acceptors, they cannot achieve a net accumulation of organic material by these reactions. For example, fatty acid biosynthesis is primed by covalent attachment of COg to acetyl-CoA to form malonyl-CoA (Chapter 25). Nevertheless, this fixed COg is liberated in the very next reaction, so no net COg incorporation occurs. 

Glycosydation AChE and BChE carry 3 and 9, respectively, N-glycosylation consensus sequences attaching carbohydrate residues to the core protein via asparagines. Different molecular forms of the enzymes in various tissues, show different number and composition of carbohydrate residues. N-glycosylation at all sites was shown to be important for effective biosynthesis, secretion and clearance of ChEs from the circulation. Altered patterns of AChE glycosylation have been observed in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer s disease (AD) patients, with potential diagnostic value. 

Three types of activated sugar intermediate are known to play an important role in the biosynthesis of carbohydrate chains their structures and enzymic interconversions are shown in Scheme 1 for D-glucopyranose... 

This concept, known as273"275 the one enzyme-one linkage concept, has been widely used in discussions of the biosynthesis of carbohydrate chains in animal glycoproteins and proteoglycans. It implies that the structure of a carbohydrate chain is dictated by the specificity of the enzymes that participate in glycosidic-bond formation. Application of the same concept for discussion of the biosynthesis of bacterial polysaccharides seems worth while. 

Chapters 17 through 21 deal with carbohydrate-enzyme systems. Hehre presents some new ideas on the action of amylases. Kabat presents some new immunochemical studies on the carbohydrate moiety of certain water-soluble blood-group substances and their precursor antigens. Hassid reviews the role of sugar phosphates in the biosynthesis of complex saccharides. Pazur and co-workers present information obtained by isotopic techniques on the nature of enzyme-substrate complexes in the hydrolysis of polysaccharides. Gabriel presents a common mechanism for the production of 6-deoxyhexoses. An intermediate nucleoside-5 -(6-deoxyhexose-4-ulose pyrophosphate) is formed in each of the syntheses. 

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