Enzymes fatty acid oxidation

The space inside the inner mitochondrial membrane is called the matrix, and it contains most of the enzymes of the TCA cycle and fatty acid oxidation. (An important exception, succinate dehydrogenase of the TCA cycle, is located in the inner membrane itself.) In addition, mitochondria contain circular DNA molecules, along with ribosomes and the enzymes required to synthesize proteins coded within the mitochondrial genome. Although some of the mitochondrial proteins are made this way, most are encoded by nuclear DNA and synthesized by cytosolic ribosomes. 

This is a crucial point because (as we will see) proton transport is coupled with ATP synthesis. Oxidation of one FADHg in the electron transport chain results in synthesis of approximately two molecules of ATP, compared with the approximately three ATPs produced by the oxidation of one NADH. Other enzymes can also supply electrons to UQ, including mitochondrial 5w-glyc-erophosphate dehydrogenase, an inner membrane-bound shuttle enzyme, and the fatty acyl-CoA dehydrogenases, three soluble matrix enzymes involved in fatty acid oxidation (Figure 21.7 also see Chapter 24). The path of electrons from succinate to UQ is shown in Figure 21.8. 

Bennett, M. J., 1994. The enzyme.s of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. 

The next three steps—reduction of the /3-carbonyl group to form a /3-alcohol, followed by dehydration and reduction to saturate the chain (Figure 25.7) — look very similar to the fatty acid degradation pathway in reverse. However, there are two crucial differences between fatty acid biosynthesis and fatty acid oxidation (besides the fact that different enzymes are involved) First, the alcohol formed in the first step has the D configuration rather than the L form seen in catabolism, and, second, the reducing coenzyme is NADPH, although NAD and FAD are the oxidants in the catabolic pathway. 

Figure 3. Mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. Long-chain fatty acids are converted to their CoA-esters as described in the text, and their fatty-acyl-groups transferred to CoA in the matrix by the concerted action of CPT 1, the acylcarnitine/carnitine exchange carrier and CPT (A) as described in the text. Medium-chain and short-chain fatty acids (Cg or less) diffuse directly into the matrix where they are converted to their acyl-CoA esters by a acyl-CoA synthase. The mechanism of p-oxidation is shown below (B). Each cycle of P-oxidation removes -CH2-CH2- as an acetyl unit until the fatty acids are completely converted to acetyl-CoA. The enzymes catalyzing each stage of P-oxidation have different but overlapping specificities. In muscle mitochondria, most acetyl-CoA is oxidized to CO2 and H2O by the citrate cycle (Figure 4) some is converted to acylcamitine by carnitine acetyltransferase (associated with the inner face of the inner membrane) and exported from the matrix. Some acetyl-CoA (if in excess) is hydrolyzed to acetate and CoASH by acetyl-CoA hydrolase in the matrix. Enzymes ...

Although fatty acids are both oxidized to acetyl-CoA and synthesized from acetyl-CoA, fatty acid oxidation is not the simple reverse of fatty acid biosynthesis but an entirely different process taking place in a separate compartment of the cell. The separation of fatty acid oxidation in mitochondria from biosynthesis in the cytosol allows each process to be individually controlled and integrated with tissue requirements. Each step in fatty acid oxidation involves acyl-CoA derivatives catalyzed by separate enzymes, utihzes NAD and FAD as coenzymes, and generates ATP. It is an aerobic process, requiring the presence of oxygen. 

Increased fatty acid oxidation is a characteristic of starvation and of diabetes meUims, leading to ketone body production by the Ever (ketosis). Ketone bodies are acidic and when produced in excess over long periods, as in diabetes, cause ketoacidosis, which is ultimately fatal. Because gluconeogenesis is dependent upon fatty acid oxidation, any impairment in fatty acid oxidation leads to hypoglycemia. This occurs in various states of carnitine deficiency or deficiency of essential enzymes in fatty acid oxidation, eg, carnitine palmitoyltransferase, or inhibition of fatty acid oxidation by poisons, eg, hypoglycin. 

The ketone bodies (acetoacetate, 3-hydroxybutyrate, and acetone) are formed in hepatic mitochondria when there is a high rate of fatty acid oxidation. The pathway of ketogenesis involves synthesis and breakdown of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) by two key enzymes, HMG-CoA synthase and HMG-GoA lyase. 

Inborn errors of fatty acid oxidation Carnitine entry into cells and mitochondria Certain enzymes of fatty acid oxidation... 

Lynen had studied chemistry in Munich under Wieland his skill as a chemist led to the successful synthesis of a number of fatty acyl CoA derivatives which proved to be substrates in the catabolic pathway. Many of these C=0 or C=C compounds had characteristic UV absorption spectra so that enzyme reactions utilizing them could be followed spectrophotometrically. This technique was also used to identify and monitor the flavoprotein and pyridine nucleotide-dependent steps. Independent evidence for the pathway was provided by Barker, Stadtman and their colleagues using Clostridium kluyveri. Once the outline of the degradation had been proposed the individual steps of the reactions were analyzed very rapidly by Lynen, Green, and Ochoa s groups using in the main acetone-dried powders from mitochondria, which, when extracted with dilute salt solutions, contained all the enzymes of the fatty acid oxidation system. 

Fatty acid utilized by muscle may arise from storage triglycerides from either adipose tissue depot or from lipid stores within the muscle itself. Lipolysis of adipose triglyceride in response to hormonal stimulation liberates free fatty acids (see Section 9.6.2) which are transported through the bloodstream to the muscle bound to albumin. Because the enzymes of fatty acid oxidation are located within subcellular organelles (peroxisomes and mitochondria), there is also need for transport of the fatty acid within the muscle cell this is achieved by fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs). Finally, the fatty acid molecules must be translocated across the mitochondrial membranes into the matrix where their catabolism occurs. To achieve this transfer, the fatty acids must first be activated by formation of a coenzyme A derivative, fatty acyl CoA, in a reaction catalysed by acyl CoA synthetase. 

The activity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I plays an important role in the regulation of fatty acid oxidation malonyl-CoA is an allosteric exhibitor of the enzyme. Malonyl-CoA is a key intermediate in fatty acid synthesis, which ensures that fatty acid oxidation is decreased when synthesis is taking place. Nonetheless, malonyl-CoA has a major role in the control of fatty acid oxidation in all tissues in which fatty acid oxidation occurs, even if no synthesis takes place. 

Figure 7.13 Physiological pathway for fatty acid oxidation. The pathway starts with the hormone-sensitive lipase in adipose tissue (the flux-generating step) and ends with the formation of acetyl-CoA in the various tissues. Acetyl-CoA is the substrate for the flux-generating enzyme, citrate synthase, for the Krebs cycle (Chapter 9). Heart, kidney and skeletal muscle are the major tissues for fatty acid oxidation but other tissues also oxidise them.

Figure 7.14 Regulation of rate of fatty acid oxidation in tissues. Arrows indicate direction of change (i) Changes in the concentrations of various hormones control the activity of hormone-sensitive lipase in adipose tissue (see Figure 7.10). (ii) Changes in the blood level of fatty acid govern the uptake and oxidation of fatty acid, (iii) The activity of the enzyme CPT-I is controlled by changes in the intracellular level of malonyl-CoA, the formation of which is controlled by the hormones insulin and glucagon. Insulin increases malonyl-CoA concentration, glucagon decrease it. Three factors are important TAG-lipase, plasma fatty acid concentration and the intracellular malonyl-CoA concentration.

Figure 7.15 Inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase by cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase and AMP dependent protein kinase the dual effect of glucagon. Phosphorylation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase by either or both enzymes inactivates the enzyme which leads to a decrease in concentration of malonyl-CoA, and hence an increase in activity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I and hence an increase in fatty acid oxidation. Insulin decreases the cyclic AMP concentration maintaining an active carboxylase and a high level of malonyl-CoA to inhibit fatty acid oxidation.

The activity of the enzyme that forms malonyl-CoA, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, is very low, so that fatty acid oxidation is high. 

Figure 16.5 Effect of malonyl-CoA on the glucose/fatty acid cycle. Malonyl-CoA is an inhibitor of fatty acid oxidation, so that it decreases fatty acid oxidation in muscle and thus facilitates glucose utilisation (See Figure 7.14). Malonyl-CoA is formed from acetyl-CoA via the enzyme acetyl-CoA carboxylase, which is activated by insulin. Insulin therefore has three separate effects to stimulate glucose utilisation in muscle.

It is pentavalent antimonial. It inhibits -SH dependent enzymes and block glycolytic fatty acid oxidation pathways. It is rapidly absorbed after IM injection and excreted unchanged in urine. Used in cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. It is given parenterally (20 mg/kg/day IM/IV) for three weeks in cutaneous leishmaniasis and for four weeks in visceral and mucocutaneous disease. 

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