Hydride transfer shuttles

Coenzymes serve as recyclable shuttles—or group transfer reagents—that transport many substrates from their point of generation to their point of utilization. Association with the coenzyme also stabilizes substrates such as hydrogen atoms or hydride ions that are unstable in the aqueous environment of the cell. Other chemical moieties transported by coenzymes include methyl groups (folates), acyl groups (coenzyme A), and oligosaccharides (dolichol). 

NAD-linked dehydrogenases remove two hydrogen atoms from their substrates. One of these is transferred as a hydride ion ( II ) to NAD+ the other is released as H+ in the medium (see Fig. 13-15). NADH and NADPH are water-soluble electron carriers that associate reversibly with dehydrogenases. NADH carries electrons from catabolic reactions to their point of entry into the respiratory chain, the NADH dehydrogenase complex described below. NADPH generally supplies electrons to anabolic reactions. Cells maintain separate pools of NADPH and NADH, with different redox potentials. This is accomplished by holding the ratios of [reduced form]/[oxidized form] relatively high for NADPH and relatively low for NADH. Neither NADH nor NADPH can cross the inner mitochondrial membrane, but the electrons they carry can be shuttled across indirectly, as we shall see. 

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