Isoprenoid unit

Figure 12-5. Structure of ubiquinone (Q). n = Number of isoprenoid units, which is 10 in higher animals, ie,Q,o-...

The biosynthesis of cholesterol may be divided into five steps (l) Synthesis of mevalonate occurs from acetyl-CoA (Figure 26-1). (2) Isoprenoid units are formed... 

Step 2—Formation of Isoprenoid Units Mevalonate is phosphorylated sequentially by ATP by three kinases, and after decarboxylation (Figure 26-2) the active isoprenoid unit, isopentenyl diphosphate, is formed. 

Cholesterol is synthesized in the body entirely from acetyl-CoA. Three molecules of acetyl-CoA form mevalonate via the important regulatory reaction for the pathway, catalyzed by HMG-CoA reductase. Next, a five-carbon isoprenoid unit is formed, and six of these condense to form squalene. Squalene undergoes cychzation to form the parent steroid lanos-terol, which, after the loss of three methyl groups, forms cholesterol. 

Figure 47-6. The structure of dolichol. The phosphate in dolichol phosphate is attached to the primary alcohol group at the left-hand end of the molecule. The group within the brackets is an isoprene unit (n = 17-20 isoprenoid units).

More than 600 different carotenoids from natural sources have been isolated and characterized. Physical properties and natural functions and actions of carotenoids are determined by their chemical properties, and these properties are defined by their molecular structures. Carotenoids consist of 40 carbon atoms (tetraterpenes) with conjugated double bonds. They consist of eight isoprenoid units j oined in such a manner that the arrangement of isoprenoid units is reversed at the center of the molecule so that the two central methyl groups are in a 1,6-position and the remaining nonterminal methyl groups are in a 1,5-position relationship. They can be acyclic or cyclic (mono- or bi-, alicyclic or aryl). Whereas green leaves contain unesterified hydroxy carotenoids, most carotenoids in ripe fruit are esterified with fatty acids. However, those of a few... 

Isoprenoids have the unit structure of a five-carbon branched chain. Isoprenoid units have the formula C5H8 and the structure ... 

Two molecules of farnesyl pyrophosphate combine, releasing pyrophosphate, and are reduced, forming the 30-carbon compound squalene. [Note Squalene is formed from six isoprenoid units. Because three ATP are hydrolysed per mevalonic acid residue converted to IPP, a total of eighteen ATP are required to make the polyisoprenoid squalene.]... 

A closely related and important family of chro-manols are the tocopherols or vitamins E (Fig. 15-24, Box 15-G). Tocopherols are plant products found primarily in plant oils and are essential to proper nutrition of humans and other animals. a-Tocopherol is the most abundant form of the vitamin E family smaller amounts of the P, 8, and y forms occur, as do a series of tocotrienols which contain unsaturated isoprenoid units.495 The configuration of a-tocopherol is 2R,4 R,8 R as indicated in Fig. 15-24. When a-toco-pherol is oxidized, e.g., with ferric chloride, the ring can be opened by hydrolysis to give tocopherolquinones (Fig. 15-24), which can in turn be reduced to tocopherol-hydroquinones. Large amounts of the tocopherolquinones have been found in chloroplasts. 

The electron donor to Chl+ in PSI of chloroplasts is the copper protein plastocyanin (Fig. 2-16). However, in some algae either plastocyanin or a cytochrome c can serve, depending upon the availability of copper or iron.345 Both QA and QB of PSI are phylloquinone in cyanobacteria but are plastoquinone-9 in chloroplasts. Mutant cyanobacteria, in which the pathway of phylloquinone synthesis is blocked, incorporate plasto-quinone-9 into the A-site.345a Plastoquinone has the structure shown in Fig. 15-24 with nine isoprenoid units in the side chain. Spinach chloroplasts also contain at least six other plastoquinones. Plastoquino-nes C, which are hydroxylated in side-chain positions, are widely distributed. In plastoquinones B these hydroxyl groups are acylated. Many other modifications exist including variations in the number of iso-prene units in the side chains.358 359 There are about five molecules of plastoquinone for each reaction center, and plastoquinones may serve as a kind of electron buffer between the two photosynthetic systems. 

Until 1993, all terpenes were considered to be derived from the classical acetate/mevalonate pathway involving the condensation of three units of acetyl CoA to 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA, reduction of this intermediate to mevalonic acid and the conversion of the latter to the essential, biological isoprenoid unit, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) [17,18,15]. Recently, a totally different IPP biosynthesis was found to operate in certain eubacteria, green algae and higher plants. In this new pathway glyceradehyde-3-phosphate (GAP) and pyruvate are precursurs of isopentenyl diphosphate, but not acetyl-CoA and mevalonate [19,20]. So, an isoprene unit is derived from isopentenyl diphosphate, and can be formed via two alternative pathways, the mevalonate pathway (in eukaryotes) and the deoxyxylulose pathway in prokaryotes and plant plastids [16,19]. 

B-5. Which of the following correctly represents the isoprenoid units of selinene ... 

Coenzyme Q (ubiquinone) is an essential cofactor in the electron transport chain in which it accepts electrons from complex I and II. Coenzyme Q also serves as an important antioxidant in both mitochondria I and lipid membranes. Coenzyme Q is a lipid-soluble compound composed of a redox active quinoid moiety and a hydrophobic tail. The predominant form of coenzyme Q in humans is coenzyme Q10, which contains ten isoprenoid units in the tail, whereas the predominant form in rodents is coenzyme Q9, which has nine isoprenoid units in the tail. Coenzyme Q is soluble and mobile in the hydrophobic core of the phospholipid bilayer of the inner membrane of the mitochondria in which it transfers electrons one at a time to complex III of the electron transport chain. 

Spom, Roberts and Goodman81 have recently provided a broad overview of the field of the retinoids, based on the IUPAC-IUB Joint commission definition that Retinoids are a class of compounds consisting of four isoprenoid units joined in a head-to-tail manner. (The work was updated in 1994) Whereas there is only a handful of naturally occurring retinoids using this definition, more than a thousand man-made retinoids are known. The IUPAC-IUB bulletin recommended that the term, retinal, not be used as a chemical designation but be reserved as an adjective referring to the retina. They suggested that retinaldehyde be used instead in scientific literature as the name of chemical related to vision. 

The biogenetic pathway to (-)-a-kainic acid 2 and (-)-domoic acid 4 has been proposed to involve a condensation between an isoprenoid unit 10 and a -activated 5-glutamate unit 11 (Scheme l).14... 

Cholesterol is synthesized from acetyl-CoA in the liver. Cholesterol and a number of natural products from plants (including rubber) are isoprenoid compounds. The isoprenoid unit is a 5-carbon structure. 

Isoprenoid compounds are synthesized from a common intermediate, mevalonic acid. Mevalonate is synthesized from acetyl-CoA and then serves as the precursor to isoprenoid units. 

Sesquiterpenoids (Sq) are Cj5 compounds formed by the assembly of three isoprenoid units. They are found in many living systems but particularly in higher plants. There are a large number of sesquiterpenoid carbon skeletons, which arise from the common precursor, farnesyl diphosphate, by various modes cyclization followed, in many cases, by skeletal rearrangement. 

Dolichol phosphate is an amphipathic lipid of the endoplasmic reticulum consisting of isoprenoid units and initiating the biosynthesis of the oligosaccharide portion of glycoproteins. 

The naturally occurring carotenoids, with the exception of crocetin and bixin, are tet-raterpenoids. They have a basic structure of eight isoprenoid residues arranged as if two 20-carbon units, formed by head-to-tail condensation of four isoprenoid units, had joined tail to tail. There are two possible ways of classifying the carotenoids. The first system recognizes two main classes, the car-... 

---