Formyl-tetrahydrofolates, formylation

Methotrexate (MTX, chemical structure shown in Fig. 1.) competitively inhibits the dehyrofolate reductase, an enzyme that plays an essential role in purine synthesis. The dehydrofolate reductase regenerates reduced folates when thymidine monophosphate is formed from deoxyuridine monophosphate. Without reduced folates cells are unable to synthesize thymine. Administration of N-5 tetrahydrofolate or N-5 formyl-tetrahydrofolate (folinic acid) can bypass this block and rescue cells from methotrexate activity by serving as antidote. 

Tetrahydrofolate can carry one-carbon fragments attached to N-5 (formyl, formimino, or methyl groups), N-10 (formyl group), or bridging N-5 to N-10 (methylene or methenyl groups). 5-Formyl-tetrahydrofolate is more stable than folate and is therefore used pharma-... 

Bagley PJ, Selhub J. A common mutation in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene is associated with an accumulation of formylated tetrahydrofolates in red blood cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1998 95 13217-13220. 

To prepare 10-formyl TF1F (formyl donor for the formylation of fMet-tRNAfMet), 10 mg of 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate (5-formyl THF) are dissolved in 1 ml of 0.1 MHC1 that has been flushed extensively with N2 and kept overnight at 4° in a closed vial. The resulting yellow suspension of 5,10-methenyl THF is agitated and an aliquot withdrawn for spectropho-tometric determination of the concentration (6 mM solution = 85 A355). The expected 5,10-methenyl THF concentration is approximately 20 mM. The cyclic methenyl THF can be stored for several weeks at —20°. The 10-formyl THF is stable for only a few weeks and is freshly prepared hydrolyzing the cyclic methenyl THF. For this purpose, the stock solution is diluted in 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0) extensively flushed with N2 and supplemented with 100 mM 2-mercaptoethanol. After 15 min incubation at 20°, the solution is divided in aliquots, which are stored at —20°. 

A relatively large number of agents have been utilized to treat this intractable disorder folinic acid (5-formyl-tetrahydrofolic acid), folic acid, methyltetrahydrofolic acid, betaine, methionine, pyridoxine, cobalamin and carnitine. Betaine, which provides methyl groups to the beta i ne ho mocystei ne methyltransferase reaction, is a safe treatment that lowers blood homocysteine and increases methionine. 

Recently, the enzymatic formation of folinic acid has been utilized to synthesize radioactively labeled products.34 The preparation of 5-formyl tetrahydrofolate, 9,3, 5 -3H and 5-formyl-14C-tetrahydrofolate starts with tritiated folic acid, which is reduced to dihydrofolate, incubated in the presence of formaldehyde, dihydrofolate reductase, and NADPH, and finally incubated with 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate dihydrogenase. The product,... 

N5-Formyl tetrahydrofolic acid, 25 803 N10-Formyl tetrahydrofolic acid, 25 801 Fornacite, 6 4 7 It... 

One-carbon units in different oxidation states are required in the pathways producing purines, thymidine, and many other compounds. When a biochemical reaction requires a methyl group (methylation), S-adenos dmethionme (SAM) is generally the methyl donor. If a one-carbon unit in another oxidation state is required (methylene, methenyl, formyl), tetrahydrofolate (THF) typically serves as its donor. 

These are pyrimidine derivatives and are effective because of differences in susceptibility between the enzymes in humans and in the infective organism. Anticancer agents based on folic acid, e.g. methotrexate, inhibit dihydrofolate reductase, but they are less selective than the antimicrobial agents and rely on a stronger binding to the enzyme than the natural substrate has. They also block pyrimidine biosynthesis. Methotrexate treatment is potentially lethal to the patient, and is usually followed by rescue with folinic acid (A -formyl-tetrahydrofolic acid) to counteract the folate-antagonist action. The rationale is that folinic acid rescues normal cells more effectively than it does tumour cells. 

The synthesis of the purine ring is more complex. The only major component is glycine, which donates C-4 and C-5, as well as N-7. All of the other atoms in the ring are incorporated individually. C-6 comes from HCOa . Amide groups from glutamine provide the atoms N-3 and N-9. The amino group donor for the inclusion of N-1 is aspartate, which is converted into fumarate in the process, in the same way as in the urea cycle (see p. 182). Finally, the carbon atoms C-2 and C-8 are derived from formyl groups in N °-formyl-tetrahydrofolate (see p. 108). 

Several other cellular target proteins for the reactive metabolite of paracetamol have also been detected and identified, namely, formyl tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, glyceralde-hyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and GSH transferase, all cytosolic proteins. 

The atoms of a purine are contributed by amino acids (aspartic acid, glutamine, and glycine), CO2, and N10-formyl tetrahydrofolic acid. 

Tremblay GB, Mejia NR, MacKenzie RE (1992), The NADP-dependent methylenete-trahydrofolate dehydrogenase-methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase-formyl-tetrahydrofolate synthetase is not expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda cells, J. Biol. Chem. 267 8281-8285. 

The amino group of glycine is formylated, with the formyl group being donated by N10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate. 

A special initiator tRNA, tRNAme i (I stands for initiator) is used for beginning protein synthesis. In bacteria, this initiator tRNA carries the modified amino acid N-formylmethionine (fmet). The formylation reaction transfers the formyl group from formyl-tetrahydrofolate to... 

Azaserine inhibits glutamine-requiring steps, and methotrexate, albeit indirectly, affects formyl-tetrahydrofolate-requiring steps. 5-Fluorouracil inhibits thymidylate synthase, and hydroxyurea inhibits ribonucleotide reductase. All are correct. 

The enzymatic activity of amido phosphoribosyltransferase (P-Rib-PP— PR A) is low and flux through the de novo pathway in vivo is regulated by the end-products, AMP, IMP and GMP. Inhibition of reaction 1 by dihydrofolate polyglutamates would signal the unavailability of /V1()-formyl tetrahydrofolate, required as a substrate at reactions 3 and 9 of the pathway. The purine pathway is subject to further regulation at the branch point from IMP XMP is a potent inhibitor of IMP cyclohydrolase (FAICAR—> IMP), AMP inhibits adenylosuccinate synthetase (IMP—> sAMP) and GMP inhibits IMP dehydrogenase (IMP— XMP). 

Fig. 15-16 The de novo purine biosynthetic pathway. Rib-5-P, ribose 5-phosphate P-Rib-PP, 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate PRA, 5-phosphoribosylamine IO-CHO-FH4, /Vl0-formyl tetrahydrofolate GAR, glycineamide ribotide FGAR. /V-formylglycineamide ribotide FGAM, /V-formylglycineamidine ribotide AIR, 5-aminoimidazole ribotide CAIR, 4-carboxy-5-aminoimidazole ribotide SAICAR, iV-succino-5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribotide AICAR, 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribotide FAICAR, 5-formamidoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribotide sAMP, /V-succino-AMP. Enzymes (1) amido phosphoribosyltransferase (2) GAR synthetase (3) GAR transformylase (4) FGAM synthetase (5) AIR synthetase (6) AIR carboxylase (7) SAICAR synthetase (8) adenylosuecinase (9) AICAR transformylase (10) IMP cyclohydrolase (11) sAMP synthetase (12) adenylosuecinasc (13) IMP dehydrogenase (14) GMP synthetase.

There is some evidence for the existence of a metabolon for de novo purine biosynthesis which contains the 14 enzymes of the pathway (Fig. 15-16) and four additional enzymes involved in the synthesis of /V10-formyl tetrahydrofolate. 

Several processes described above use one-carbon derivatives of tetrahydrofolate (Fig. 15-19). For example, the synthesis of the purine ring (Fig. 15-16) requires N,0-formyl tetrahydrofolate. Thymidylate synthase, a key enzyme in pyrimidine synthesis, uses N5-N,0-methylene tetrahydrofolate both as a substrate and as a reducing agent. This compound, perhaps the most important in C, metabolism, is... 

Formyl-tetrahydrofolate is more stable to atmospheric oxidation than folic acid itself and is commonly used in pharmaceutical preparations it is also known as folinic acid and the synthetic (racemic) compound as leucov-orin. Although the [6S, 67 ] racemic mixture might be expected to have only 50% of the biological activity of the naturally occurring 6S isomer, between 10% to 40% of the 67 isomer is biologically active (Baggott et al., 2001). 

Methyl-tetrahydrofolate from the intestinal mucosa circulates bound to albumin and is the main vitamer for uptake by extrahepatic tissues. Small amounts of other one-carbon substituted folates also circulate (about 10% to 15% of plasma folate is 10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate) and are also available for tissue uptake. There are two mechanisms for tissue uptake of folate ... 

Formylglutamate can transfer its formyl group directly onto tetrahydrofolate to yield 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate. Formyl-glutamate is not a normal physiological intermediate, and the formation of 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate is probably a side reaction of FIGLU formiminotransferase. 

Methylene-, methenyl-, and 10-formyl-tetrahydrofolates are freely interconvertible. The two activities involved - methylene-tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase and methenyl-tetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase - form a trifunctional enzyme with 10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate synthetase (Paukert et al., 1976). This means that single-carbon fragments entering the folate pool in any form other than as methyl-tetrahydrofolate can be readily available for any of the biosynthetic reactions shown in Figure 10.4. 

The conversion of 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate to methenyl-tetrahydrofolate, catalyzed by 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase, is important. Although 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate is the most commonly used pharmaceutical preparation of the vitamin, a relatively large proportion of orally administered... 

Disposal of Surplus One-Carbon Fragments With the exception of serine hydroxymethyltransferase (Secdon 10.3.1.1), aU of the reactions shown in Figure 10.4 as sources of one-carbon subsdtuted folates are essentially catabolic reactions. When there is a greater entry of single carbon units into the folate pool than is required for biosynthetic reactions, the surplus can be oxidized to carbon dioxide byway of 10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate, thus ensuring the avaUabUity of tetrahydrofolate for catabolic reactions. 

As shown in Figure 10.4, 10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate and methylene-tetra-hydrofolate are donors of one-carbon fragments in a number of biosynthetic reactions, including the synthesis of purines, pyrimidines, porphyrins, and... 

Methotrexate is a potent inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase, with an affinity 1,000-fold greater than that of dUiydrofolate. Chemotherapy consists of alternating periods of administration of methotrexate and folate (normally as 5-formyl-tetrahydrofolate, leucovorin) to replete the normal tissues and avoid induction of folate deficiency- so-called leucovorin rescue. As well as depleting tissue pools of tetrahydrofolate, methotrexate leads to the accumulation of relatively large amounts of 10-formyl-dihydrofolate, which is apotentinhibitor of both thymidylate synthetase and glycinamide ribotide transformylase, an intermediate step in purine nucleotide synthesis. It is likely that this, rather than simple depletion of tetrahydrofolate, is the basis of the cytotoxic action of methotrexate (Barametal., 1988). 

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