Glutamine, transamination

Glutamine is readily converted to glutamate via glutamate synthase (see Miflin and Lea, this volume. Chapter 4 Stewart er al., this volume. Chapter 7). There have been suggestions that glutamine transamination to 2-oxoglutaramate may occur, but this would appear to be of minor consequence. 

These points have important functional implications. While neuronal glutamate may come from glucose via pyruvate, the Krebs cycle and transamination of alpha-oxoglutamate, it seems likely that most of the transmitter originates from the deamination of glutamine. After release, the high-affinity uptake sites (transporters)... 

Glutamate is a commonly occurring amino acid that acts as an excitatory transmitter in CNS. The molecule may be synthesized within the nerve ending either by transamination from 2-oxoglutarate (described in Section 6.3.1.1) or by deamination of glutamine (see Section 8.2.2). However, in common with other synaptic signals, there exists an efficient uptake mechanism in the axon to recycle glutamate that has been released. 

Additionally, several amino acids may undergo transamination to produce glutamate which in the liver is oxidatively deaminated to form 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG, see Figure 6.6), a substrate of the TCA cycle. Alternatively, glutamate maybe converted into glutamine, an important but often overlooked fuel substrate. 

The 2-oxoglutarate produced is recycled for transamination or may enter the TCA cycle. The ammonia liberated by oxidative deamination is used to form glutamine (from glutamate, catalysed by glutamine synthase) prior to export from the muscle cell ... 

Figure 8.17 The metabolism of branched-chain amino acids in muscle and the fate of the nitrogen and oxoacids. The a-NH2 group is transferred to form glutamate which is then aminated to form glutamine. The ammonia required for aminab on arises from glutamate via glutamate dehydrogenase, but originally from the transamination of the branded chain amino acids. Hence, they provide both nitrogen atoms for glutamine formation.

Figure 8.29 The initial reactions of glutamine metabolism in kidney, intestine and cells of the immune system. The initial reaction in all these tissues is the same, glutamine conversion to glutamate catalysed by glutaminase the next reactions are different depending on the function of the tissue or organ. In the kidney, glutamate dehydrogenase produces ammonia to buffer protons. In the intestine, the transamination produces alanine for release and then uptake and formation of glucose in the liver. In the immune cells, transamination produces aspartate which is essential for synthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides required for DNA synthesis otherwise it is released into the blood to be removed by the enterocytes in the small intestine or by cells in the liver.

Figure 9.5 A summary of pathways of the three main fueb and the positions where they enter the cycle. The figure also shows the release of hydrogen atoms/electrons and their transfer into the electron transfer chain for generation of ATP and formation of water. Glutamine is converted to glutamate by deamidation and glutamate is converted to oxoglutarate by transamination or deamination. The process of glycolysis also generates ATP as shown in the Figure.

Problem 21.5 (a) What is the relationship between reactants and products in the transamination reaction (b) Which ketoacid is needed to give (i) alanine (ii) leucine (iii) serine (iv) glutamine (c) Which amino acids cannot be made by transamination 4... 

Terms in bold are defined in aminotransferases 660 transaminases 660 transamination 660 pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) 660 oxidative deamination 661 l-glutamate dehydrogenase 661 glutamine synthetase 662 glutaminase 663 creatine kinase 664... 

The amino acid and nucleotide biosynthetic pathways make repeated use of the biological cofactors pyridoxal phosphate, tetrahydrofolate, and A-adenosylmethionine. Pyridoxal phosphate is required for transamination reactions involving glutamate and for other amino acid transformations. One-carbon transfers require S-adenosyhnethionine and tetrahydrofolate. Glutamine amidotransferases catalyze reactions that incorporate nitrogen derived from glutamine. 

Alanine and aspartate are synthesized from pyruvate and oxaloacetate, respectively, by transamination from glutamate. Asparagine is synthesized by amidation of aspartate, with glutamine donating the NH4. These are nonessential amino acids, and their simple biosynthetic pathways occur in all organisms. 

Ammonia transport in the blood from the peripheral tissues to the liver occurs by two major mechanisms glutamine can be synthesized from glutamate and ammonia (glutamine synthetase) or pyruvate can be transaminated to alanine. In the liver, the ammonia group is removed from glutamine by glutaminase and from alanine by transamination. 

Step c of Eq. 24-34 may occur by ring opening to an enol phosphate which ketonizes to the observed product, but step e is a more complex multistep oxidative process.314a,b The last step is transamination to methionine with a glutamine-specific aminotransferase. Another enzyme from Klebsiella converts the same intermediate anion to methylthiopropionate, formate, and CO (Eq. 24-34, step/).315... 

Studies on the transamination of glutamine with a-ketoacids (127-132) have shown that a-ketoglutaramic acid is formed as a product. a-Ketoglutaramic acid has been found to exist in solution in equilibrium with the cyclic ketolactam form ... 

At pH 7.5 less than 1% of the compound exists in the open-chain a-keto-acid form while at pH 9 approximately 3% is in a form that reacts as a typical a-keto acid. Glutamine transaminase also catalyzes the transamination of glutamic acid y-A -methylamide the expected transamination product, a-keto-A-methylglutaramic acid has not yet been isolated from a transamination reaction mixture. However, this compound was... 

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