Acyl carrier protein, fatty acid

The pathway from acetate to palmitic acid (actually a palmitic acid-acyl carrier protein complex) involves at least nine enzymes acetyl CoA synthetase, acetyl CoA carboxylase, and the seven enzyme fatty acid synthetase complex. We chose first to test the effect of these compounds on acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACCase) activity. There were several reasons to select ACCase as the... 

Amide bonds are found in many proteins. One is the acyl carrier protein of Escherichia coli (see 90), which contains the peptide backbone, and a 4 -phosphopantetheine unit (in violet in the illustration) is attached to a serine residue. Note the amine bonds in the pantothenic acid unit and also the 0-P=0 unit, which is a phosphate ester (an ester of phosphoric acid). An acyl carrier protein is involved in fatty acid synthesis, linking acetyl and malonyl groups from acetyl coenzyme A and malonyl coenzyme A to form P-keto acid acyl carrier protein (abbreviated as ACP). The widely utilized acetyl CoA is an ester (91) attached to coenzyme A. Acetyl CoA is a key intermediate in aerobic intermediary metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and some amino acids. 

We can descnbe the major elements of fatty acid biosynthesis by considering the for mation of butanoic acid from two molecules of acetyl coenzyme A The machinery responsible for accomplishing this conversion is a complex of enzymes known as fatty acid synthetase Certain portions of this complex referred to as acyl carrier protein (ACP), bear a side chain that is structurally similar to coenzyme A An important early step m fatty acid biosynthesis is the transfer of the acetyl group from a molecule of acetyl coenzyme A to the sulfhydryl group of acyl carrier protein... 

Biosynthesis of coen2yme A (CoA) ia mammalian cells incorporates pantothenic acid. Coen2yme A, an acyl group carrier, is a cofactor for various en2ymatic reactions and serves as either a hydrogen donor or an acceptor. Pantothenic acid is also a stmctural component of acyl carrier protein (AGP). AGP is an essential component of the fatty acid synthetase complex, and is therefore requited for fatty acid synthesis. Free pantothenic acid is isolated from hver, and is a pale yeUow, viscous, and hygroscopic oil. 

The 4-phosphopantetheine group of CoA is also utilized (for essentially the same purposes) in acyl carrier proteins (ACPs) involved in fatty acid biosynthesis (see Chapter 25). In acyl carrier proteins, the 4-phosphopantetheine is covalently linked to a serine hydroxyl group. Pantothenic acid is an essential factor for the metabolism of fat, protein, and carbohydrates in the tricarboxylic acid cycle and other pathways. In view of its universal importance in metabolism, it is surprising that pantothenic acid deficiencies are not a more serious problem in humans, but this vitamin is abundant in almost all foods, so that deficiencies are rarely observed. 

Intermediates in fatty acid synthesis are linked covalently to the suifhydryl groups of special proteins, the acyl carrier proteins. In contrast, fatty acid breakdown intermediates are bound to the —SH group of coenzyme A. Fatty acid synthesis occurs in the cytosol, whereas fatty acid degradation takes place in mitochondria. 

Acyl Carrier Proteins Carry the Intermediates in Fatty Acid Synthesis... 

FIGURE 25.6 Fatty acids are conjugated both to coenzyme A and to acyl carrier protein through the sulfliydryl of phosphopantetheine prosthetic groups. 

FIGURE 25.7 The pathway of palmhate synthesis from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA. Acetyl and malonyl building blocks are introduced as acyl carrier protein conjugates. Decarboxylation drives the /3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase and results in the addition of two-carbon units to the growing chain. Concentrations of free fatty acids are extremely low in most cells, and newly synthesized fatty acids exist primarily as acyl-CoA esters. 

Steps 1-2 of Figure 29.5 Acyl Transfers The starting material for fatty-acid synthesis is the thioesteT acetyl CoA, the ultimate product of carbohydrate breakdown, as we ll see in Section 29.6. The synthetic pathway begins with several priming reactions, which transport acetyl CoA and convert it into more reactive species. The first priming reaction is a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction that converts acetyl CoA into acetyl ACP (acyl carrier protein). The reaction is catalyzed by ACP transacyla.se. 

In bacteria and plants, the individual enzymes of the fatty acid synthase system are separate, and the acyl radicals are found in combination with a protein called the acyl carrier protein (ACP). However, in yeast, mammals, and birds, the synthase system is a multienzyme polypeptide complex that incorporates ACP, which takes over the role of CoA. It contains the vitamin pantothenic acid in the form of 4 -phosphopan-tetheine (Figure 45-18). The use of one multienzyme functional unit has the advantages of achieving the effect of compartmentalization of the process within the cell without the erection of permeability barriers, and synthesis of all enzymes in the complex is coordinated since it is encoded by a single gene. 

Figure 21-2. Fatty acid synthase multienzyme complex. The complex is a dimer of two identical polypeptide monomers, 1 and 2, each consisting of seven enzyme activities and the acyl carrier protein (ACP). (Cys— SH, cysteine thiol.) The— SH of the 4 -phosphopantetheine of one monomer is in close proximity to the— SH of the cysteine residue of the ketoacyl synthase of the other monomer, suggesting a "head-to-tail" arrangement of the two monomers. Though each monomer contains all the partial activities of the reaction sequence, the actual functional unit consists of one-half of one monomer interacting with the complementary half of the other. Thus, two acyl chains are produced simultaneously. The sequence of the enzymes in each monomer is based on Wakil.

Pantothenic acid Functional part of CoA and acyl carrier protein fatty acid synthesis and metabolism ... 

AGP, acyl carrier protein Figure 4 Biosynthesis of fatty acids. 

An alternative route to mevalonic acid is also possible, which differs from the former one in that the formation of P-hydroxy-P-methylglutaryl residue occurs on the surface of an acyl carrier protein (like in fatty acid biosynthesis). The intermediary product in this route, P-hydroxy-p-methylglutaryl-S-ACP, is re-duced by another enzyme to mevalonic acid. 

It has recently been demonstrated (191) that the nature and location of lipid A primary fatty acids is determined by the specificity of the enzymes UDP-GlcpNAc-G-acyltransferase and UDP-3-6>-[(i )-hydroxyacyl]-GlcpN-N-acyltransferase for acyl - acyl carrier protein (acyl ACP). The analysis of the acyl ACP specificity of these O- and A-acyltransferases should, therefore, constitute a biochemical approach for elucidation of the location of primary fatty acids in lipid A (191). 

Phosphopantetheine tethering is a posttranslational modification that takes place on the active site serine of carrier proteins - acyl carrier proteins (ACPs) and peptidyl carrier proteins (PCPs), also termed thiolation (T) domains - during the biosynthesis of fatty acids (FAs) (use ACPs) (Scheme 23), polyketides (PKs) (use ACPs) (Scheme 24), and nonribosomal peptides (NRPs) (use T domain) (Scheme 25). It is only after the covalent attachment of the 20-A Ppant arm, required for facile transfer of the various building block constituents of the molecules to be formed, that the carrier proteins can interact with the other components of the different multi-modular assembly lines (fatty acid synthases (FASs), polyketide synthases (PKSs), and nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs)) on which the compounds of interest are assembled. The structural organizations of FASs, PKSs, and NRPSs are analogous and can be divided into three broad classes the types I, II, and III systems. Even though the role of the carrier proteins is the same in all systems, their mode of action differs from one system to another. In the type I systems the carrier proteins usually only interact in cis with domains to which they are physically attached, with the exception of the PPTases and external type II thioesterase (TEII) domains that act in trans. In the type II systems the carrier proteins selectively interact... 

Scheme 23 Example of an acyl carrier protein (ACP in red) in a type I FAS. The palmitic acid is depicted as a representative fatty acid. During its biosynthesis, the ACP (red) interacts iteratively with each domain (DH, dehydrogenase ER, enoyl reductase KR, ketoreductase KS, ketosynthase TE, thioesterase) until the palmitic acid has reached its proper length.

Fatty add synthase is a large multienzyme complex in the cytoplasm that is rapidly induced in the liver after a meal by high carbohydrate and the concomitant rise in insulin levels. It contains an acyl carrier protein (AGP) that requires the vitamin pantothenic add. Althoi malonyl CoA is the substrate used by fetty acid synthase, only the carbons from the acetyl CoA portion are actually incorporated into the fatty acid produced. Therefore, the fetty add is derived entirely from acetyl CoA. 

Figure 11.4 Condensation, dehydration and reduction reactions in fatty add synthesis. These reactions constitute the major components of the pathway of fatty acid synthesis and are all catalysed by fatty acid synthase. The reduction reactions, indicated by addition of 2H in the diagram, involve the conversion of NADPH to NADP . (The re-conversion of NADP back to NADPH occurs in the pentose phosphate pathway.) The condensation reaction results in an increase in size of acyl-ACP by two carbon units in each step. The two carbons for each extension are each provided by malonyl-CoA. ACP - acyl carrier protein.

The fatty acid synthase protein is known to contain an acyl carrier protein (ACP) binding site, and also an active-site cysteine residue in the P-ketoacyl synthase domain. Acetyl and malonyl gronps are successively transferred from coenzyme A esters and attached to the thiol groups of Cys and ACP. 

Each subunit of the enzyme binds acetyl residues as thioesters at two different SH groups at one peripheral cysteine residue (CysSH) and one central 4-phosphopante-theine group (Pan-SH). Pan-SH, which is very similar to coenzyme A (see p. 12), is covalently bound to a protein segment of the synthase known as the acyl-carrier protein (ACP). This part functions like a long arm that passes the substrate from one reaction center to the next. The two subunits of fatty acid synthase cooperate in this process the enzyme is therefore only capable of functioning as a dimer. 

NADP+ [EC 1.3.1.10] to produce 2,3-dehydroacyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] and NADH or NADPH. See also Fatty Acid Synthetase... 

This enzyme, officially known as 3-hydroxypalmitoyl-[acyl-carrier protein] dehydratase [EC 4.2.1.61], is the fatty-acid synthase component that catalyzes the conversion of (3 i )-3-hydroxypalmitoyl-[acyl-carrier protein] to form 2-hexadecenoyl-[acyl-carrier protein] and water. This enzyme displays specificity toward 3-hydroxyacyl-[acyl-carrier protein] derivatives (with chain lengths from Ci2 to Cie), with highest activity on the palmitoyl derivative. See also Fatty Acid Synthetase... 

This enzyme [EC 2.3.1.41], also known as 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier protein] synthase, catalyzes the reaction of an acyl-[acyl-carrier protein] with malonyl-[acyl-carrier protein] to produce a 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier protein], carbon dioxide, and the [acyl-carrier protein]. See also Fatty Acid Synthetase... 

Figure 8-2. Pathway for synthesis of palmitate by the fatty acid synthase (FAS) complex. Schematic representation of a single cycle adding two carbons to the growing acyl chain. Formation of the initial acetyl thioester with a cysteine residue of the enzyme preceded the first step shown. Acyl carrier protein (ACP) is a component of the FAS complex that carries the malonate covalently attached to a sulfhydryl group on its phosphopantatheine coenzyme (-SH in the scheme).

Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) is both present in many nutrientcients and it is also produced by intestinal bacteria. Deficiency is therefore thought to be unlikely. Its active form, 4-phosphopantetheine, is an element of both coenzyme-A and acyl-carrier protein and thus participates in fatty acid synthesis and in the posttranslational modification of proteins. Acetylcoenzyme-A is important for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. 

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