Ketoglutarate formation

Figure 23.23. a -Ketoglutarate formation from amino acids. a-Ketoglutarate is the point of entry of several five-carbon amino acids that are first converted into glutamate. 

Alcohol dehydrogenase (5) and leucine a-ketoglutarate transaminase (33,34) contribute to the development of aroma during black tea manufacturing. Polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase are essential to the formation of polyphenols unique to fermented teas. 

We detenuined the influence of oxy- and ketocarboxylic acids (succinate, fumarate, adipinate, a-ketoglutarate, isocitrate, tartrate, E-malate) on the luminescence intensity of the Eu-OxTc complex. These substances interact as polydentate ligands similarly to citrate with the formation of ternary complexes with Eu-OxTc. As to succinate, fumarate, adipinate and a-ketoglutarate this they cannot effectively coordinate with EiT+ and significant fluorescence enhancement was not observed. 

Figure 28-3. Formation of alanine by transamination of pyruvate. The amino donor may be glutamate or aspartate. The other product thus is a-ketoglutarate or oxaloacetate.

A number of iron-containing, ascorbate-requiring hydroxylases share a common reaction mechanism in which hydroxylation of the substrate is linked to decarboxylation of a-ketoglutarate (Figure 28-11). Many of these enzymes are involved in the modification of precursor proteins. Proline and lysine hydroxylases are required for the postsynthetic modification of procollagen to collagen, and prohne hydroxylase is also required in formation of osteocalcin and the Clq component of complement. Aspartate P-hydroxylase is required for the postsynthetic modification of the precursor of protein C, the vitamin K-dependent protease which hydrolyzes activated factor V in the blood clotting cascade. TrimethyUysine and y-butyrobetaine hydroxylases are required for the synthesis of carnitine. 

Pyridine-4-carboxylate is hydroxylated by Mycobacterium sp. strain INAl to 2,6-dihydroxypyridine-4-carboxylate. Two different hydroxylation enzymes were involved and were apparently Mo-dependent (Kretzer and Andreesen 1991). The formation of 2-ketoglutarate can, however, be rationalized equally as (3-oxidation to hexahydropyridine-2,3,6-trione-4-carboxy-CoA ester followed by hydrolysis. 

Figure 3 Gradient separation of anions using suppressed conductivity detection. Column 0.4 x 15 cm AS5A, 5 p latex-coated resin (Dionex). Eluent 750 pM NaOH, 0-5 min., then to 85 mM NaOH in 30 min. Flow 1 ml/min. 1 fluoride, 2 a-hydrox-ybutyrate, 3 acetate, 4 glycolate, 5 butyrate, 6 gluconate, 7 a-hydroxyvalerate, 8 formate, 9 valerate, 10 pyruvate, 11 monochloroacetate, 12 bromate, 13 chloride, 14 galacturonate, 15 nitrite, 16 glucuronate, 17 dichloroacetate, 18 trifluoroacetate, 19 phosphite, 20 selenite, 21 bromide, 22 nitrate, 23 sulfate, 24 oxalate, 25 selenate, 26 a-ketoglutarate, 27 fumarate, 28 phthalate, 29 oxalacetate, 30 phosphate, 31 arsenate, 32 chromate, 33 citrate, 34 isocitrate, 35 ds-aconitate, 36 trans-aconitate. (Reproduced with permission of Elsevier Science from Rocklin, R. D., Pohl, C. A., and Schibler, J. A., /. Chromatogr., 411, 107, 1987.)...

It was observed that glutamate and aspartate are diverted predominantly to the synthesis of cell substance rather than to the formation of oxalate. It is not inconsistent to see oc-ketoglutarate being formed from glutamate, while no oxaloacetic acid can be detected in the medium containing aspartate, as the oxaloacetic acid is known to be extremely unstable (2), (62), (Hi). The relatively low yields of oxalic acid, derived... 

Another observation on oxalate formation is that other a-keto acids, such as oxalosuccinic acid (74) and a-ketoglutaric acid (106) do not seem to yield oxalate directly but indirectly (123). This appears to be due to the fact that only oxaloacetic acid can function as an acetate donor. In this connection the intervention of Coenzyme A may be considered, since it is reported to function in the acetylation of sulfanilamide and choline (73) and recently was shown to take part in the enzymatic synthesis of citric acid. This concept may be illustrated as follows ... 

Reactions of cyanide with the salts or esters of some amino acids (e.g., pyruvate, a-ketoglutarate, oxaloacetate) lead to formation of cyanohydrin intermediates and their incorporation into intermediary metabolism. 

This enzyme [EC 1.5.1.19], also known as D-nopaline synthase, catalyzes the reaction of Al -(D-l,3-dicarboxy-propyl)-L-arginme with NADP+ and water to produce L-arginine, NADPH, and a-ketoglutarate (or, 2-oxoglu-tarate). In the reverse direction, the enzyme catalyzes the formation of D-nopaline from L-arginine as well as D-ornaline from L-ornithine. 

The common motif shared by non-heme iron oxygenases contains an active site, where two histidines and one carboxylate occupy one face of the Fe(ll) coordination sphere. These enzymes catalyze a variety of oxidative modification of natural products. For example, in the biosynthesis of clavulanic acid, clavaminic acid synthase demonstrates remarkable versatility by catalyzing hydroxylation, oxidative ring formation and desaturation in the presence of a-ketoglutarate (eq. 1 in Scheme 7.22) [80]. The same theme was seen in the biosynthesis of isopenicillin, the key precursor to penicillin G and cephalosporin, from a linear tripeptide proceeded from a NRPS, where non-heme iron oxygenases catalyze radical cyclization and ring expansion (eq. 2 in Scheme 7.22) [81, 82]. 

Other papers of interest in this section report transamination of camphor-3-carbothioamides with secondary cyclic amines, reaction of camphorquinone with dimethyl /S-ketoglutarate, the use of fenchone (212 X=0) in alkene formation from Grignard reagents, bromination of 2-e/itfo-6-endo-dibromobornane to yield 2,3,6-endo-tribromoborn-2-ene, and camphor-enol trimethylsilyl ether formation by quenching the reaction mixture of butyl-lithium and camphor tosyl-hydrazone with trimethylsilyl chloride. ... 

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