Folic acid pathway

Figure 1.8 Folic acid pathway Tetrahydrofolic acid synthesis in bacteria and humans. PABA = Paraminobenzoic acid.

Blockade of sequential steps in a metabolic sequence Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is the best-known example of this mechanism of synergy (see Chapter 46). Blockade of the two sequential steps in the folic acid pathway by trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole results in a much more complete inhibition of growth than achieved by... 

Trimethoprim (Proloprim, Trimpex) interferes with the bacterial folic acid pathway by inhibiting the dihydrofolate reductase enzyme in susceptible bacteria (see Fig. 33-2). This enzyme converts dihydrofolic acid to tetrahydrofolic acid during the biosynthesis of folic acid cofactors. By inhibiting this enzyme, trimethoprim directly interferes with the production of folic acid cofactors, and subsequent production of vital bacterial nucleic acids is impaired. 

Animals are unable to synthesize folic acid (6.62) and must consume adequate quantities in their diets. Plants and bacteria, however, are able to make folic acid. The first step of this synthesis is catalyzed by dihydropteroate synthetase and reacts dihydroptero-ate diphosphate (6.69) and para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA, 6.70) (Figure 6.25). Because this pathway is not found in humans, inhibition of the reaction is a method to ultimately stop TMP synthesis in an invading bacterium while not impacting the infected host. The sulfonamides, often called sulfa drugs, are a class of antibiotic that exploits the folic acid pathway and inhibits dihydropteroate synthetase. Sulfa drugs bind in the same fashion as PABA and act as competitive inhibitors. The active form of the first sulfa drug is sulfanilamide (6.71). Sulfamethoxazole (6.72) is a sulfa drug that is widely prescribed today.26... 

In archaebacteria the folic acid pathway for C-l transformations is based upon methanopterin as an ancient precursor of these important cellular interconversions. Tetrahydromethanopterin (478) has been identified as the active coenzyme and carbon carrier (479-481) in methanogenesis <84JBC(259)9447> and functions et alia as formaldehyde activation factor <84PNA(8l)l976>. 

TMP inhibits dihydrofolic acid reduction to tetrahydrofolate, resulting in sequential inhibition of enzymes of the folic acid pathway. 

The sulfonamides are a group of organic compounds with chemotherapeutic activity they are antimicrobial agents and not antibiotics. They have a common chemical nucleus that is closely related to PABA, an essential component in the folic acid pathway of nucleic acid synthesis. The sulfonamides are synergistic with the diaminopyrim-idines, which inhibit an essential step further along the folate pathway. The combination of a sulfonamide and a diaminopyrimidine is advantageous because it is relatively non-toxic to mammalian cells (less sulfonamide is administered) and is less likely to select for resistant bacteria. Only these so-called potentiated sulfonamides are used in equine medicine. These drugs are formulated in a ratio of one part diaminopyrimidine to five parts sulfonamide, but the optimal antimicrobial ratio at the tissue level is 1 20, which is achieved because the diaminopyrimidines are excreted more rapidly than the sulfonamides. 

Inhibition of folic acid pathway Trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole... 

Akhtar et al. [20] have studied the identification of photoproducts of fohc acid and their degradation pathways in aqueous solution using preparative TLC. An aqueous solution of folic acid irradiated with UV at pH 2.4 to 10.0 for 6 h was subjected to TLC analysis, which gave separation of fohc add (Rj 0.67), p-woi-nobenzolyl-L-glutamic acid (Figure 10.12). The photolyzed solutions were... 

Furthermore, the two pathways that normally degrade homocysteine are absent from the neurone and glial cells and so homocysteine can accumulate in the brain (Chapter 8, Appendix 8.2). Consequently, the maintenance of adequate intake of folic acid and vitamin over many years, to ensure low levels of homocysteine, may help to protect neurones and reduce the risk of development Alzheimer s disease. 

Thus sulfonamides are bacteriostatic drugs that inhibit bacterial growth by interfering with the microbial synthesis of folic acid. More specifically, sulfonamides block the biosynthetic pathway of folic acid synthesis, thus competitively inhibiting the transformation of p-aminobenzoic acid to folic acid (mediated by the enzyme dihydropteroate synthetase), which allows them to be considered as antimetabolites. 

The answer is E. Methotrexate is an analog of folic acid that binds with very high affinity to the substrate-binding site of dihydrofolate reductase, the enzyme that catalyzes conversion of DHF to THE, which is used in various forms by enzymes of both the purine and pyrimidine de novo synthetic pathways. Thus, synthesis of dTMP from dUMP catalyzed by thymidylate synthetase and several steps in purine synthesis catalyzed by formyltransferase are indirectly blocked by the action of methotrexate because both those enzymes require THE coenzymes. 

Trimethoprim (Trimpex, Proloprim) is a structural analogue of the pteridine portion of dihydrofolic acid. It differs from the sulfonamides in that it acts at a second step in the folic acid synthetic pathway that is, it... 

Because trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole have their effects at different points in the folic acid synthetic pathway, a synergistic effect results when the two are administered together. The incidence of bacterial resistance to the combination is less than that observed when the drugs are used individually. Resistance is an increasing problem in a number of bacteria, but is especially problematic in the Enterobacteriaceae, against which the combination is used in AIDS patients for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia prophylaxis. 

Section3 shows the pathway by which folic acid enters the tetrahydrofolate cofactor pool. Double arrows indicate pathways with more than one intermediate step. 

Deficiency of vitamins, such as folic acid, is highly teratogenic, as essential synthetic metabolic pathways are blocked or reduced. This may be caused by the administration of specific vitamin analogues or antagonists as well as by a failure in supply. 

Sulfonamides are structural analogs of PABA that competitively inhibit bacterial synthesis of folic acid (see p. 371). Because purine synthesis requires THF as a coenzyme, the sulfa drugs slow down this pathway in bacteria. 

Since tetrahydrofolic acid controls the synthesis of essential components of nucleic acids it is of fundamental importance for cell growth and replication, and since different organisms acquire it by different pathways it may be exploited in several fields of chemotherapy, some of which were explored before folic acid was known. 

When present in excess methionine is toxic and must be removed. Transamination to the corresponding 2-oxoacid (Fig. 24-16, step c) occurs in both animals and plants. Oxidative decarboxylation of this oxoacid initiates a major catabolic pathway,305 which probably involves (3 oxidation of the resulting acyl-CoA. In bacteria another catabolic reaction of methionine is y-elimination of methanethiol and deamination to 2-oxobutyrate (reaction d, Fig. 24-16 Fig. 14-7).306 Conversion to homocysteine, via the transmethylation pathway, is also a major catabolic route which is especially important because of the toxicity of excess homocysteine. A hereditary deficiency of cystathionine (3-synthase is associated with greatly elevated homocysteine concentrations in blood and urine and often disastrous early cardiovascular disease.299,307 309b About 5-7% of the general population has an increased level of homocysteine and is also at increased risk of artery disease. An adequate intake of vitamin B6 and especially of folic acid, which is needed for recycling of homocysteine to methionine, is helpful. However, if methionine is in excess it must be removed via the previously discussed transsulfuration pathway (Fig. 24-16, steps h and z ).310 The products are cysteine and 2-oxobutyrate. The latter can be oxidatively decarboxylated to propionyl-CoA and further metabolized, or it can be converted into leucine (Fig. 24-17) and cysteine may be converted to glutathione.2993... 

Another group of inhibitors prevents nucleotide biosynthesis indirectly by depleting the level of intracellular tetrahydrofolate derivatives. Sulfonamides are structural analogs of p-aminobenzoic acid (fig. 23.19), and they competitively inhibit the bacterial biosynthesis of folic acid at a step in which p-aminobenzoic acid is incorporated into folic acid. Sulfonamides are widely used in medicine because they inhibit growth of many bacteria. When cultures of susceptible bacteria are treated with sulfonamides, they accumulate 4-carboxamide-5-aminoimidazole in the medium, because of a lack of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate for the penultimate step in the pathway to IMP (see fig. 23.10). Methotrexate, and a number of related compounds inhibit the reduction of dihydrofolate to tetrahydrofolate, a reaction catalyzed by dihydrofolate reductase. These inhibitors are structural analogs of folic acid (see fig. 23.19) and bind at the catalytic site of dihydrofolate reductase, an enzyme catalyzing one of the steps in the cycle of reactions involved in thymidylate synthesis (see fig. 23.16). These inhibitors therefore prevent synthesis of thymidylate in replicating... 

Several antibacterial drugs inhibit bacterial nucleic acid synthesis by inhibiting the production of folic acid.17 Folic acid serves as an enzymatic cofactor in a number of reactions, including synthesis of bacterial nucleic acids and certain essential amino acids. The pathway for synthesis of these folic acid cofactors is illustrated in Figure 33-2. Certain antibacterial drugs block specific steps in the folate pathway, thus impairing the production of this enzymatic cofactor and ultimately impairing the production of nucleic acids and... 

A metabolic pathway that has received considerable attention is the conversion of 2 -deoxyuridine 5 -monophosphate (dUMP, 6.60) to thymidine 5 -monophosphate (TMP, 6.61) (Scheme 6.13). Without an adequate supply of TMP, a cell or bacterium cannot create DNA for cell division. Therefore, blocking TMP synthesis is an attractive method for slowing the advancement of certain cancers and bacterial infections. Important molecules in the methylation of dUMP are the various folic acid derivatives folic acid (FA, 6.62), dihydrofolic acid (DHF, 6.63), tetrahydrofolic acid (THF, 6.64), and N5, A1 "-methylene tetrahydrofolic acid (MTHF, 6.65) (Figure 6.23). These structures... 

Buemi et al. reported that the addition of Hey to the medium of smooth muscle cells in tissue culture caused a significant increase in cell proliferation and death through apoptosis and necrosis. When folic acid was added to the culture medium, homocysteine concentrations in media were reduced and the effects of Hey on the proliferation/apopto-sis/necrosis balance of cells in culture were inhibited (62). Ozer et al. (63) showed that the MAPK kinase pathway is involved in DNA synthesis and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle induced by homocysteine. 

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