Hexose phosphate isomerase

The oxidative pentose phosphate cycle is often presented as a means for complete oxidation of hexoses to C02. For this to happen the C3 unit indicated as the product in Fig. 17-8A must be converted (through the action of aldolase, a phosphatase, and hexose phosphate isomerase) back to one-half of a molecule of glucose-6-P which can enter the cycle at the beginning. On the other hand, alternative ways of degrading the C3 product glyceraldehyde-P are available. For example, using glycolytic enzymes, it can be oxidized to pyruvate and to C02 via the citric acid cycle. 

Transketolases are characterized by their ability to transfer a two-carbon unit from a ketose to an aldehyde. The C3 and C7 sugar-phosphates can subsequently be converted to a C4 and a Csugar-phosphate, erythrose 4-phosphate (3.17) and fructose 6-phosphate (3.2), respectively. This reaction is catalyzed by a transaldolase, which transfers a three-carbon glyceraldehyde unit from an aldose to a ketose. Erythrose-4-phosphate (3.17) can be used in the shikimate pathway (see Section 6). A second transketolase reaction can generate a second fructose-6-phosphate (3.2) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (3.4) residue from erythrose-4-phosphate (3.17) and xylulose-5-phosphate (3.15). Hexose-phosphate isomerase converts the... 

The reaction is similar to the hexose phosphate isomerase and triose phosphate isomerase reactions of glycolysis and probably proceeds through an enediol intermediate ... 

Triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) catalyzes the interconversion of glyceralde-hyde-3-phosphate and dihydoxyacetone phosphate and has an important role in glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, fatty acid synthesis, and the hexose monophosphate pathway. Red blood cell TPI activity measured in vitro is approximately 1000 times that of Hx, the least active glycolytic enzyme. TPI is a dimer of identical subunits, each of molecular weight 27,000, and does not utilize cofactors or metal ions. Posttranslational modification of one or both subunits may occur by deamidination, resulting in multiple forms of the enzymes and creating a complex multibanded pattern on electrophoresis. 

The natural substrate for the dehydrogenase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G-3-P), had been synthesized earlier by Hermann Fischer, Emil Fischer s son, and Baer in 1932. In 1934 Meyerhof and Lohmann synthesized hexose diphosphate, establishing it to be fructose 1,6 bisphosphate (F-l, 6 bis P). With F-1,6 bisP as substrate and hydrazine to trap the aldehydic and ketonic products of the reaction, G-3-P was identified in the mixture of G-3-P and dihydroxyacetone phosphate which resulted. Triose phosphate isomerase was then isolated and the importance of phosphorylated 3C derivatives established. 

Fructose bisphosphate is cleaved by action of an aldolase (reaction 4) to give glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and dihydroxyacetone phosphate. These two triose phosphates are then equilibrated by triose phosphate isomerase (reaction 5 see also Chapter 13). As a result, both halves of the hexose can be metabolized further via glyceraldehyde 3-P to pyruvate. The oxidation of glyceraldehyde 3-P to the corresponding carboxylic acid, 3-phosphoglyceric acid (Fig. 17-7, reactions 6 and 7), is coupled to synthesis of a molecule of ATP from ADP and P . This means that two molecules of ATP are formed per hexose cleaved, and that two molecules of NAD+ are converted to NADH in the process. 

Answer Problem 1 outlines the steps in glycolysis involving fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, and dihydroxyacetone phosphate. Keep in mind that the aldolase reaction is readily reversible and the triose phosphate isomerase reaction catalyzes extremely rapid interconversion of its substrates. Thus, the label at C-l of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate would equilibrate with C-l of dihydroxyacetone phosphate (AG ° = 7.5 kJ/mol). Because the aldolase reaction has AG ° = -23.8 kJ/mol in the direction of hexose formation, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate would be readily formed, and labeled in C-3 and C-4 (see Fig. 14-6). 

Two metabolic patterns are discernible from the results. Carbon atoms 2, 1, and 7 of shikimate (VI) are derived almost equally from G-1,6, G-2,5, and G-3,4, respectively. In the Embden-Meyerhof pathway of hexose metabolism (see Fig. 2), D-fructose 1,6-diphosphate is cleaved to 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propanone phosphate (G-1,2,3) and D-glycerose 3-phosphate (G-4,5,6), and the two trioses are interconverted by triose phosphate isomerase. The observed randomization of label between Cl and C6, C2 and C5, and C3 and C4 of hexose therefore implies that C2, Cl, and C7 of shikimate are derived from a 3-carbon intermediate of glycolysis. The small but significant preponderance of G-6 over G-1, of G-5 over G-2, and, presumably, of G-4 over G-3, can be explained by recent observations that, in the aldolase cleavage of D-fructose 1,6-diphosphate, the 1,3-dihy-... 

Enzymes differ from nonbiological catalysts in that they are specific for the substrate whose reaction they catalyze (Section 6.17). Enzymes, however, have different degrees of specificity. Some enzymes are specific for a single compound. Eor example, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase catalyzes the isomerization of glucose-6-phosphate only. On the other hand, some enzymes catalyze the reactions of several compounds with similar structures. Eor instance, hexokinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of any o-hexose. The specificity of an enzyme for its substrate is another example of molecular recognition— the ability of one molecule to recognize another molecule (Section 21.0). 

Katz and Rognstad (1969) have shown that adipose tissue, in contrast to liver slices (Bloom and Foster, 1964), perfused rat liver (Hob-erman and D Adamo, 1960a) and muscle (Rose and O Connell, 1961) does not lose many of its protons in H2O, because the hexose-6-phosphate isomerase is less active in this tissue. The activity of the oxidative pathway and isotope diserimination may further explain... 

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