Hydroxyacylation

The third reaction of this cycle is the oxidation of the hydroxyl group at the /3-position to produce a /3-ketoacyl-CoA derivative. This second oxidation reaction is catalyzed by L-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, an enzyme that requires NAD as a coenzyme. NADH produced in this reaction represents metabolic energy. Each NADH produced in mitochondria by this reaction drives the synthesis of 2.5 molecules of ATP in the electron transport pathway. L-Hydroxyacyl-... 

FIGURE 24.15 The conversion of trans- and m-enoyl CoA derivatives to l- and d-/3-hydroxyacyl CoA, respectively. These reactions are catalyzed by enoyl-CoA hydratases (also called crotonases), enzymes that vary in their acyl-chain length specificity. A recently discovered enzyme converts ram-enoyl-CoA directly to D-/3-hydroxyacyl-CoA. 

CoA dehydrogenase shows absolute specificity for the L-hydroxyacyl isomer of the substrate (Figure 24.16). (o-Hydroxyacyl isomers, which arise mainly from oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, are handled differently.)... 

Hiltnnen, J. K., Palosaari, R, and Knnan, W.-H., 1989. Epimerization of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA esters in rat liver. Journal of Biological Chemistry 264 13535-13540. 

One of the steps in the metabolism of fats is the reaction of an unsaturated acyl CoA with water to give a /3-hydroxyacyl CoA. Propose a mechanism. 

Conjugate nucleophilic addition of water to the double bond gives a /3-hydroxyacyl CoA. 

Step 2 of Figure 29.3 Conjugate Addition of Water The a,(3-unsaturated acyl CoA produced in step 1 reacts with water by a conjugate addition pathway (Section 19.13) to yield a jG-hydroxyacyl CoA in a process catalyzed by enoyl CoA hydratase. Water as nucleophile adds to the 3 carbon of the double bond, yielding an enolate ion intermediate that is protonated on the a position. 

Step 3 of Figure 29.3 Alcohol Oxidation The /3-hydroxyacyl CoA from step 2 is oxidized to a /3-ketoacyl CoA in a reaction catalyzed by one of a family of L-3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenases, which differ in substrate specificity according to the chain length of the acyl group. As in the oxidation of sn-glycerol 3-phosphate to dihydroxyacetone phosphate mentioned at the end of Section 29.2, this alcohol oxidation requires NAD+ as a coenzyme and yields reduced NADH/H+ as by-product. Deprotonation of the hydroxyl group is carried out by a histidine residue at the active site. 

As a rule, the anabolic pathway by which a substance is made is not the reverse of the catabolic pathway by which the same substance is degraded. The two paths must differ in some respects for both to be energetically favorable. Thus, the y3-oxidation pathway for converting fatty acids into acetyl CoA and the biosynthesis of fatty acids from acetyl CoA are related but are not exact opposites. Differences include the identity of the acvl-group carrier, the stereochemistry of the / -hydroxyacyl reaction intermediate, and the identity of the redox coenzyme. FAD is used to introduce a double bond in jS-oxidalion, while NADPH is used to reduce the double bond in fatty-acid biosynthesis. 

Inherited defects in the enzymes of (3-oxidation and ketogenesis also lead to nonketotic hypoglycemia, coma, and fatty hver. Defects are known in long- and short-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (deficiency of the long-chain enzyme may be a cause of acute fetty liver of pr nancy). 3-Ketoacyl-CoA thiolase and HMG-CoA lyase deficiency also affect the degradation of leucine, a ketogenic amino acid (Chapter 30). 

Treem WR et al Acute fatty liver of pregnancy and long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency. Hepatology 1994 19 339. 

The oxidation of fatty acids within the Knoop-Lynen cycle occurs in the matrix. The Knoop-Lynen cycle includes four enzymes that act successively on acetyl-CoA. These are acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (FAD-dependent enzyme), enoyl-CoA hydratase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (NAD-dependent enzyme), and acetyl-CoA acyltrans-ferase. Each turn, or revolution, of the fatty acid spiral produces... 

Enzymology of the Formation of Hydroxyacyl-CoA Thioesters as Substrates for PHA Synthases... 

The presence of a PHA synthase alone is not sufficient to allow synthesis of PHAs. PHA biosynthesis will not occur if genes encoding enzymes required for the synthesis of hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A thioesters are absent or if the pathways constituted by these enzymes are for whatever reason not functionally active. This becomes evident, for example, when a PHA synthase gene is expressed in wild type or normal laboratory strains of E. coir, even if a functionally active PHA synthase is expressed, no or only traces of PHAs are accumulated. 

Synthesis of PHAMCL from fatty acids such as octanoic acid or from the corresponding alkanes such as octane was first detected in P. oleovorans [119]. The alkanes are oxidized to the fatty acids the latter are activated by thiokinases and then degraded via the fatty acid /1-oxidation pathway. Obviously intermediates of this pathway accumulate under conditions favorable for the synthesis of PHA and are subsequently converted into substrates for the PHA synthase. Many reactions for the conversion of an intermediate of the -oxidation cycle into R-(-)-3-hydroxyacyl-CoA were considered. These were ... 

An epimerase directly converting the l-(+) of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA into the r-(-) stereoisomer... 

There are an overwhelming number of studies which successfully demonstrated heterologous expression of PHA synthesis genes in bacteria it will therefore not be possible to mention them all. Establishment of functional active PHA biosynthesis pathways in E. coli requires not only a PHA synthase but also enzymes that allow the conversion of metabolites, which derive from the provided carbon source, into the R isomers of hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A thioesters that are used as a substrate by the respective PHA synthase. Otherwise, no or only marginal amounts of PHAs are accumulated. 

The NADPH-dependent reductase is active with C4 to C6 D-(-)-3-hy-droxyacyl-CoAs, it has no activity with L-(+)-substrates, and the reduction of acetoacetyl-CoA yields only D-(-)-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA. The NADH-de-pendent reductase can use the L-(+)-enantiomers of these compounds and, in addition, C7, C8, and C10 L-(+)-3-hydroxyacyl-CoAs as substrates. From aceto-acetyl-CoA the NADH-dependent reductase produces only L-(+)-3-hydro-xybutyryl-CoA, but in the reverse direction it is active with both substrates [15]. 

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