Formaldehyde activating enzyme, reaction

After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. French spent two years, 1942 to 1944, as a post-doctorate fellow in the laboratories of Professors J. D. Edsall and E. J. Cohn at Harvard Medical School. During this period, French worked in the area of amino acids and proteins, and he became especially interested in relating the structure of amino acids and proteins to chemical reactivity. With Dr. Edsall, he published an excellent review on the reactions of formaldehyde with amino acids and proteins. In this stage of his career, his interest was aroused in proteins that possess enzymic activity. In later years, much of his research was devoted to enzymes and their mode of action, and to the molecular mechanisms and theoretical aspects of enzyme action. 

Biological systems overcome the inherent unreactive character of 02 by means of metalloproteins (enzymes) that activate dioxygen for selective reaction with organic substrates. For example, the cytochrome P-450 proteins (thiolated protoporphyrin IX catalytic centers) facihtate the epoxidation of alkenes, the demethylation of Al-methylamines (via formation of formaldehyde), the oxidative cleavage of a-diols to aldehydes and ketones, and the monooxygenation of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons (RH) (equation 104). The methane monooxygenase proteins (MMO, dinuclear nonheme iron centers) catalyze similar oxygenation of saturated hydrocarbons (equation 105). ... 

The metabolism of folic acid involves reduction of the pterin ting to different forms of tetrahydrofolylglutamate. The reduction is catalyzed by dihydtofolate reductase and NADPH functions as a hydrogen donor. The metabolic roles of the folate coenzymes are to serve as acceptors or donors of one-carbon units in a variety of reactions. These one-carbon units exist in different oxidation states and include methanol, formaldehyde, and formate. The resulting tetrahydrofolylglutamate is an enzyme cofactor in amino acid metabolism and in the biosynthesis of purine and pyrimidines (10,96). The one-carbon unit is attached at either the N-5 or N-10 position. The activated one-carbon unit of 5,10-methylene-H folate (5) is a substrate of T-synthase, an important enzyme of growing cells. 5-10-Methylene-H folate (5) is reduced to 5-methyl-H,j folate (4) and is used in methionine biosynthesis. Alternatively, it can be oxidized to 10-formyl-H folate (7) for use in the purine biosynthetic pathway. 

The activity of EtO, similar to many other disinfectants, preservative, and sterilizing agents, such as formaldehyde, beta-propiolactone, methylbromide, and ethylenimine, depends on an alkylation reaction. This reaction occurs with some groups within the complex enzymes, proteins, and nucleic acids in the bacterial cell. These compounds can then no longer be effective or necessary to the vital processes of the microorganism cell. Furthermore, one would expect these effects to vary according to the extensions of reactions static, mutagenic, or toxic. 

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