Fatty acid adenylates

FIGURE 24.8 The mechanism of the acyl-CoA synthetase reaction involves fatty acid carboxylate attack on ATP to form an acyl-adenylate intermediate. The fatty acyl CoA thioester product is formed by CoA attack on this intermediate. 

In fatty-acid biosynthesis, a carboxylic acid is activated by reaction with ATP to give an acyl adenylate, which undergoes nucleophilic acyi substitution with the — SH group or coenzyme A. (ATP = adenosine triphosphate AMP = adenosine monophosphate.)... 

Hydrolysis of triacylglycerides in tissues is effected by a tissue enzyme, tri-acylglyceride lipase, which hydrolyzes triacylglycerides to glycerol and free fatty acids. There are a variety of tissue lipases that differ primarily in their optimum pH and their location in the cell. The acidic lipase is contained in lysosomes the basic lipase, in microsomes and the neutral lipase, in cytoplasm. A specific feature of the tissue lipase is its sensitivity to hormones which, by activating adenylate cyclase, elicit the transition of the inactive tissue lipase to its active... 

Lithium blocks the release of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) mediated by thyrotropin (Kleiner et ah, 1999). This results in a decrease in circulating T4 and T3 concentrations and a feedback increase in serum thyrotropin concentration. It also inhibits thyrotropin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity (Kleiner et ah, 1999). Lithium has varying effects on carbohydrate metabolism. Increased and decreased glucose tolerance and decreased sensitivity to insulin have been observed (Van derVelde Gordon, 1969). In animals, lithium decreases hepatic cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis. 

The first step in the activation of a fatty acid— either for energy-yielding oxidation or for use in the synthesis of more complex lipids—is the formation of its thiol ester (see Fig. 17-5). The direct condensation of a fatty acid with coenzyme A is endergonic, but the formation of fatty acyl-CoA is made exergonic by stepwise removal of two phosphoiyl groups from ATP. First, adenylate (AMP) is transferred from ATP to the carboxyl group of the fatty acid, forming a mixed anhydride... 

Another way in which the phosphorylation state of the adenylate system can regulate the cycle depends upon the need for GDP in step/of the cycle (Fig. 17-4). Within mitochondria, GTP is used largely to reconvert AMP to ADP. Consequently, formation of GDP is promoted by AMP, a compound that arises in mitochondria from the utilization of ATP for activation of fatty acids (Eq. 13-44) and activation of amino acids for protein synthesis (Eq. 17-36). 

The uncoupling protein is affected by several control mechanisms. It is inhibited by nucleotides such as GDP, GTP, ADP, and ATP which may bind at a site corresponding to that occupied by ATP or ADP in the ADP/ATP carrier.1 Uncoupling is stimulated by noradrenaline/ which causes a rapid increase in heat production by brown fat tissues, apparently via activation of adenylate cyclase. Uncoupling is also stimulated by fatty acids.) Recently UCP1 and related uncoupling proteins have been found to require both fatty acids and ubiquinone for activity.)) )k... 

The AG° values for the hydrolysis of any P - O - P bond of ATP, inorganic pyrophosphate, or any acyl CoA thiolester are all about -34 kj / mole, while the corresponding figure for the hydrolysis of a mixed carboxylic phosphate anhydride is about -55 kj / mole. Calculate the value of AG° for the following reaction describing the activation of fatty acids to the fatty acyl adenylate. 

Each synthetase module contains three active site domains The A domain catalyzes activation of the amino acid (or hydroxyacid) by formation of an aminoacyl- or hydroxyacyl-adenylate, just as occurs with aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. However, in three-dimensional structure the A domains do not resemble either of the classes of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases but are similar to luciferyl adenylate (Eq. 23-46) and acyl-CoA synthetases.11 The T-domain or peptidyl carrier protein domain resembles the acyl carrier domains of fatty acid and polyketide synthetases in containing bound phos-phopantetheine (Fig. 14-1). Its -SH group, like the CCA-terminal ribosyl -OH group of a tRNA, displaces AMP, transferring the activated amino acid or hydroxy acid to the thiol sulfur of phosphopan-tetheine. The C-domain catalyzes condensation (peptidyl transfer). The first or initiation module lacks a C-domain, and the final termination module contains an extra termination domain. The process parallels that outlined in Fig. 21-11.1... 

When certain hormones (e.g., epinephrine) bind to their receptors in adipose tissue, adenylate cyclase is activated. The cAMP that is formed activates protein kinase A, which phosphorylates triacylglycerol lipase. The phosphorylated form of this enzyme is the active species, and triacylglycerols are degraded to fatty acids. 

Hohmann AG, Suplita RL, Bolton NM, Neely MH, Fegley D, Mangieri R, Krey JF, Walker JM, Holmes PV, Crystal JD, Duranti A, Tontini A, Mor M, Tarzia G, Piomelli D (2005) An endocannabinoid mechanism for stress-induced analgesia. Nature 435(7045) 1108-12 Howlett AC, Qualy JM, Khachatrian LL (1986) Involvement of Gi in the inhibition of adenylate cyclase by cannabimimetic drugs. Mol Pharmacol 29(3) 307-13 Hsu K-T, Storch J (1996) Fatty acid transfer from liver and intestinal fatty acid-binding proteins to membranes occurs by different mechanisms. J Biol Chem 271(23) 13317—23... 

The breakdown of fatty acids in (3-oxidation (see Topic K2) is controlled mainly by the concentration of free fatty acids in the blood, which is, in turn, controlled by the hydrolysis rate of triacylglycerols in adipose tissue by hormone-sensitive triacylglycerol lipase. This enzyme is regulated by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation (Fig. 5) in response to hormonally controlled levels of the intracellular second messenger cAMP (see Topic E5). The catabolic hormones glucagon, epinephrine and norepinephrine bind to receptor proteins on the cell surface and increase the levels of cAMP in adipose cells through activation of adenylate cyclase (see Topic E5). The cAMP allosterically activates... 

Changes in EFA status affect the activity of several membrane-associated enzymes and proteins 68-71 Reduced adenyl cyclase activity occurred in EFA-deficient animals,72 while in animals supplemented with n-6 or n-3 fatty acids, increased adenyl cyclase activity was seen in cardiac membranes.73,74 However, the opposite effect has been reported in other membranes, possibly reflecting differences in initial fatty acid composition.75 n-3 PUFAs have been shown to activate membrane Ca-ATPase and inhibit Na, K-ATPase in isolated basolateral membranes from rat duodenal enterocytes76 and inhibit both Ca-ATPase and Na,K-ATPase activity in synaptosomal membranes isolated from rat cerebral cortex.77 EFAs have the ability to modify neuronal Ca-ATPase activity... 

Alam, S.Q., Alam, B.S., and Ren, Y.F., Adenyl cyclase activity, membrane fluidity and fatty acid composition of rat heart in essential fatty acid deficiency, J. Moll. Cell. Cardiol., 19, 465, 1987. 

The release of fatty acids from adipose tissue is regulated by the rate of hydrolysis of triacylglycerol and the rate of esterification of acyl-CoA with glycerol 3-phosphate. The rate of hydrolysis is stimulated by hormones that bind to cell-surface receptors and stimulate adenylate cyclase (which catalyzes the production of cAMP from ATP). Hormone-sensitive lipase (Sec. 13.4) can exist in two forms, one of which exhibits very low activity and a second which is phosphorylated and has high activity. Before hormonal stimulation of adenylate cyclase, the low-activity lipase predominates in the fat cell. Stimulation of protein kinase by an increase in cAMP concentration leads to phosphorylation of the low-activity lipase. An increase in the rate of hydrolysis of triacylglycerol and the release of fatty acids from the fat cell follows. This leads to a greater utilization of fatty acids by tissues such as heart, skeletal muscle, and liver. 

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