Malic enzyme, function

Mitochondria from body wall muscle and probably the pharynx lack a functional TCA cycle and their novel anaerobic pathways rely on reduced organic acids as terminal electron acceptors, instead of oxygen (Saz, 1971 Ma et al, 1993 Duran et al, 1998). Malate and pyruvate are oxidized intramitochondrially by malic enzyme and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, respectively, and excess reducing power in the form of NADH drives Complex II and [3-oxidation in the direction opposite to that observed in aerobic organelles (Kita, 1992 Duran et al, 1993 Ma et al,... 

In hepatocytes and adipocytes, cytosolic NADPH is largely generated by the pentose phosphate pathway (see Fig. 14-21) and by malic enzyme (Fig. 21-9a). The NADP-linked malic enzyme that operates in the carbon-assimilation pathway of C4 plants (see Fig. 20-23) is unrelated in function. The pyruvate produced in the reaction shown in Figure 21-9a reenters the mitochondrion. In hepatocytes and in the mammary gland of lactating animals, the NADPH required for fatty acid biosynthesis is supplied primarily by the pentose phosphate pathway (Fig. 21-9b). 

London and Meyer (33) have demonstrated the presence of a malic enzyme, E.C. 1.1.1.39, in Streptococcus faecalis. In their system, the organism grows at the expense of L-malic acid, producing carbon dioxide, acetate, and ethyl alcohol and NADH as major end products, and a small amount of lactic acid as a minor end product. The authors speculate that the major function of the malic enzyme is to provide energy, presumably... 

Figure 10-9 Representation of the course of enzyme-induced hydration of fumaric acid (trans-butenedioic acid) to give L-malic acid (L-2-hydroxy-butanedioic acid). If the enzyme complexes with either—C02H (carboxyl) group of fumaric acid, and then adds OH from its right hand and H from its left, the proper stereoisomer (l) is produced by antarafacial addition to the double bond. At least three particular points of contact must occur between enzyme and substrate to provide the observed stereospecificity of the addition. Thus, if the enzyme functions equally well with the alkenic hydrogen or the carboxyl toward its mouth (as shown in the drawing) the reaction still will give antarafacial addition, but o,L-malic acid will be the product.

A second example, provided by one of the steps in metabolism by way of the Krebs citric acid cycle (see Section 20-1 OB), is the oxidation of L-2-hydroxy-butanedioic (L-malic) acid to 2-oxobutanedioic (oxaloacetic) acid. This enzyme functions only with L-malic acid ... 

In the oxidative branch of malate dismutation, malic enzyme oxidizes malate to pyruvate, which is then further oxidized to acetyl-CoA by pyruvate dehydrogenase, an enzyme complex specially adapted to anaerobic functioning in Ascaris suum and possibly in other parasitic helminths like the trematode F. hepatica and the cestode Dipylidium caninum (Diaz and Komuniecki, 1994 Klingbeil et al., 1996). Parasitic helminths like F. hepatica use an acetate succinate CoA-transferase (ASCT) for... 

Figure 2.4. The provision of acetyl-CoA and NADPH for lipogenesis. PPP, pentose phosphate pathway T, tricarboxylate transporter K, a-ketoglutarate transporter. In ruminants, pyruvate dehydrogenase, ATP-citrate lyase and malic enzyme activities are low and perhaps non-functional. (From Murray et al., 1988. Harper s Biochemistry, 21st edn, p. 207, Appleton and Lange, Norwalk, CT reproduced with permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies).

The C4 cycle can be viewed as an ATP-dependent C02 pump that delivers C02 from the mesophyll cells to the bundle-sheath cells, thereby suppressing photorespiration (Hatch and Osmond, 1976). The development of the C4 syndrome has resulted in considerable modifications of inter- and intracellular transport processes. Perhaps the most striking development with regard to the formation of assimilates is that sucrose and starch formation are not only compartmented within cells, but in C4 plants also may be largely compartmented between mesophyll and bundle-sheath cells. This has been achieved together with a profound alteration of the Benson-Calvin cycle function, in that 3PGA reduction is shared between the bundle-sheath and mesophyll chloroplasts in all the C4 subtypes. Moreover, since C4 plants are polyphyletic in origin, several different metabolic and structural answers have arisen in response to the same problem of how to concentrate C02. C4 plants have three distinct mechanisms based on decarboxylation by NADP+-malic enzyme, by NAD+-malic enzyme, or by phosphoenolpy-ruvate (PEP) carboxykinase in the bundle-sheath (Hatch and Osmond, 1976). 

B. Dozin, M.A. Magnuson, and V.M. Nikodem, Tissue-specific regulation of two functional malic enzyme mRNAs by triiodothyronine. Biochemistry Sept 24 5581 (1985). 

Regulation and Physiological Functions of Malic Enzymes Rene Frenkel... 

Fig. 5.5. Nucleotidic sequence of the DNA fragment carrying the malolactic enzyme (mLeS) gene and proteic sequences coded by this fragment. Certain proteic zones particularly well conserved between the malolactic enzyme and malic enzymes have been underlined. A potential function has been specified for some...

Cocoa bean fermentation is a mixed-culture process, consisting initially of fermentations by yeast and lactic acid bacteria followed by oxidation of the fermentation products ethanol and lactic acid into acetic acid and acetoin by several Acetohacter strains, of which /I. pasteurianus is the prominent one (Moens et al. 2014). A C-based carbon flux analysis of Acetohacter during cocoa pulp fermentation-simulating conditions revealed a functionally separated metabolism during co-consumption of ethanol and lactate. Acetate was almost exclusively derived from ethanol, whereas lactate served for formation of acetoin and biomass building blocks. This switch was attributed to the lack of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and malic enzyme activities, which prevents conversion of oxalo-acetate and malate formed by acetate metabolism in the TCA cycle to PEP and pyruvate and subsequently to acetoin (Adler et al. 2014). Lactate, on the other hand, can be converted to pyruvate, which is then used for acetoin formation or, after conversion to PEP by pymvate phosphate dikinase, for gluconeogenesis. The inability of conversion of TCA cycle intermediates to PEP resembles the situation in G. oxydans, where in addition no enzyme for conversion of pyruvate to PEP is present. 

The reasons for the confusion surrounding the mechanism of the malo-lactic fermentation are now apparent. In the malate system from Lactobaccillus plantarum, Korkes et al. (14) demonstrated carbon dioxide and lactic acid production from malic acid, but they were unable to show a large amount of pyruvic acid production. However, the cofactor requirement for the system indicated the need for an intermediate between malic acid and lactic acid, and pyruvic acid was the logical choice. At this time, the occurrence of enzymes requiring NAD in a function other than reduction-oxidation was not realized, so it was logical to conclude that the malic acid to lactic acid conversion involved a redox reaction. The later information, however, indicates that this is probably not the case. 

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