Metabolism amino acid, branched-chain, enzyme

Figure 9-4. Metabolism of the branched-chain amino acids. The first two reactions, transamination and oxidative decarboxylation, are catalyzed by the same enzyme in all cases. Details are provided only for isoleucine. Further metabolism of isoleucine and valine follows a common pathway to propionyl CoA. Subsequent steps in the leucine degradative pathway diverge to yield acetoacetate. An intermediate in the pathway is 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG-CoA), which is a precursor for cytosolic cholesterol biosynthesis.

In humans, methylmalonyl-CoA mutase is required for the metabolism of proprionate, derived from branched-chain amino acids, odd-chain fatty acids and cholesterol, into succinyl-CoA (Banerjee 1997 Pett et at. 2002). Methylmalonyl-CoA mutase requires AdoCbl as a cofactor. The mechanism involves the homolytic cleavage of the Co-C bond, forming cob(II)alamin and a 5 -deoxyadenosyl radical (Pett et at. 2002). The homolytic cleavage of the Co-C bond is increased 10 -fold in the presence of the enzyme. The 5 -deox-yadenosyl radical first abstracts a hydrogen atom from the substrate methyl-malonyl-CoA, which donates after a rearrangement reaction back to form succinyl-CoA (Pett et at. 2002). In humans, deficiency in methylmalonyl-CoA mutase causes an inherited metabolic disorder and is one of causes of methylmalonylacidemia. According to the severity of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase reduced activity, the deficiency is characterized as muf (detectable... 

Many organic acidurias originate in the breakdown of the three branched-chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine and valine (Fig. 40-1). Metabolism of the organic acids requires the presence of specific enzymes, congenital... 

Cultured fibroblasts or amniocytes can be probed with FAO substrates and carnitine. Cell cultures deficient of an FAO enzyme will accumulate specific acylcarni-tine species when incubated with substrates such as palmitate, allowing for the diagnosis of FAO disorders [28-37]. Modifications of this assay system have also been developed for the diagnosis of defects affecting the metabolism of branched-chain amino acids [20, 31, 34]. Recently, this approach was also adapted for the study of peripheral blood mononuclear cells [38]. 

When Rinaldo analyzed Ryan s blood serum, he found high concentrations of methylmalonic acid, a breakdown product of the branched-chain amino acids isoleucine and valine, which accumulates in MMA patients because the enzyme that should convert it to the next product in the metabolic pathway is defective. And particularly telling, he says, the child s blood and urine contained massive amounts of ketones, another metabolic consequence of the disease. Like Shoemaker, he did not find any ethylene glycol in a sample of the baby s bodily fluids. The bottle couldn t be tested, since it had mysteriously disappeared. Ri-naldo s analyses convinced him that Ryan had died from MMA, but how to account for the results from two labs, indicating that the boy had ethylene glycol in his blood Could they both be wrong ... 

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) is a recessive disorder in which there is a partial or complete deficiency in branched-chain o-ketoacid dehydrogenase, an enzyme that decarboxylates leucine, isoleucine, and valine (see Figure 20.10). These amino acids and their corre sponding a-keto acids accumulate in the blood, causing a toxic effect that interferes with brain functions. The disease is characterized by feeding problems, vomiting, dehydration, severe metabolic acidosis, and a characteristic maple syrup odor to the urine. If untreated, the disease leads to mental retardation, physical disabilities, and death. 

Figure 28-7. The metabolism of branched-chain amino acids and odd-chain fatty acids via propionyl-CoA. Propionyl-CoA is converted to D-methylmalonyl-CoA by propionyl-CoA carboxylase. D,L-Methylmalonyl-CoA racemase catalyzes the conversion of D-methylmalonyl-CoA to L-methylmalonyl-CoA. L-methyl malonyl-CoA mutase, an adenosyicobalamin-requiring enzyme, converts L-methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA.TCA cycle is citric acid cycle or Kreb s cycle.

Various mutations affecting either the El or the E2 subunit of the dehydrogenase are involved in different forms of maple symp urine disease. Acute infantile disease is caused by near complete lack of activity of the enzyme. The intermittent form of the disease is associated with marginally adequate residual activity of the enzyme that is able to cope with the branched-chain oxo-acids arising from the metabolism of modest amounts of branched-chain amino acids, but not relatively large amounts. 

MetabolicaUy, biotin is of central importance in lipogenesis, gluconeogen-esis, and the catabolism of branched-chain (and other) amino acids. There are two well-characterized biotin-responsive inborn errors of metabolism, which are fatal if untreated holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency and biotinidase deficiency. In addition, biotin induces a number of enzymes, including glu-cokinase and other key enzymes of glycolysis. Biotinylation of histones may be important in regulation of the cell cycle. 

Yeast-derived saturated short-medium chain and branched-chain aldehydes are formed from sugar metabolism, fatty acid metabolism and branched-chain amino acid metabolism (Fig 8D.7). In addition, hexanal, as well as hexenal isomers, are formed during the pre-fermentative stages of winemaking by the sequential action of grape lipoxygenase and hydroperoxide cleavage enzyme on linoleic and linolenic acid, respectively (Crouzet 1986). 

Aldehydes, especially the longer chain saturated and branched chain aldehydes (i.e., propanal, butanal, 2-methyl-1-propanal, 2-methyl-1-butanal, and 3-methyl-1-butanal) are also intermediates in the formation of fusel oils. These pathways involve anabolic metabolism of sugars or transamination of amino acids. During ethanol fermentation, the aldehydes may be reduced to the corresponding alcohols by ADH enzymes and excreted into the media. Herraiz et al. (19) found that longer chain aldehydes were not as readily reduced and excreted by the yeast, e.g., 35% reduction was observed for pentanal compared to 3% reduction for decanal. 

The liver also plays an essential role in dietary amino acid metabolism. The liver absorbs the majority of amino acids, leaving some in the blood for peripheral tissues. The priority use of amino acids is for protein synthesis rather than catabolism. By what means are amino acids directed to protein synthesis in preference to use as a fuel The K jyj value for the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases is lower than that of the enzymes taking part in amino acid catabolism. Thus, amino acids are used to synthesize aminoacyl-tRNAs before they are catabolized. When catabolism does take place, the first step is the removal of nitrogen, which is subsequently processed to urea. The liver secretes from 20 to 30 g of urea a day. The a-ketoacids are then used for gluconeogenesis or fatty acid synthesis. Interestingly, the liver cannot remove nitrogen from the branch-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine). Transamination takes place in the muscle. 

The selective toxicity of sulfonylureas to certain weeds without damage to the cereal crop arises from their rapid metabolism in the crop plant to inactive compounds, whereas in sensitive weeds the metabolism is much slower. The very high herbicidal activity suggests a specific biochemical mode of action, which is concluded to be the inhibition of plant cell division. Sulfonylureas block the enzyme acetolacetate synthase (ALS), which catalyses the biosynthesis of the essential branched chain amino acids valine, leucine and isoleucine. 

The sulfonylurea herbicides are a new family of chemical compounds, some of which are selectively toxic to weeds but not to crops. The selectivity of the sulfonylureas results from their metabolism to non-toxic compounds by particular crops, but not by weeds. In addition to efficient weed control, the sulfonylurea herbicides provide environmentally desirable properties such as field use rates as low as two grams/hectare and very low toxicity to mammals. The high specificity of the herbicides for their molecular target contributes to both of these properties. In addition, the low toxicity to mammals results from their lack of the target enzyme for the herbicides. Sulfonylureas inhibit the enzyme acetolactate synthase (ALS), also known as acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS), which catalyzes the first common step in the biosynthesis of the branched chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine. In mammals these are three of the essential amino acids which must be obtained through dietary intake because the biosynthetic pathway for the branched chain amino acids is not present. The prototype structure of a sulfonylurea herbicide is shown in Figure 1. 

Isoluecine catabolism. The catabolism of leucine is presented as a representative of branched-chain amino acid (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) metabolism. This can occur in more than one tissue (see text for more detail). The purple lettering under an enzyme indicates the resulting disease when this enzyme is missing. 

The control of branched-chain amino-acid metabolism lies with the branched-chain a-keto-acid dehydrogenase. This enzyme can be phosphorylated to produce an inactive form and, in turn, that enzyme can be dephosphorylated to produce the active form. 

An alternative approach to estimating the metabolic capabilities of chloroplasts entails measurement of the light-dependent metabolism of radioactive tracers. Using isolated pea chloroplasts. Mills and Wilson (1978a) found that lysine, methionine, threonine, and isoleucine were synthesized from [ C]aspartate. Further evidence that aspartate was being metabolized via the anticipated pathways was provided by the demonstration that the synthesis of homoserine was inhibited by lysine and threonine (Lea et al., 1979). These results, combined with those relating to enzyme localization, lead to the concept that chloroplasts contain a complete functional sequence of enzymes which can facilitate the synthesis of the aspartate family and at least some of the branched-chain amino acids. This is consistent with the importance of chloroplasts in ammonia assimilation (Miflin and Lea, this volume. Chapter 4) and with the evidence that protein can be synthesized from CO2 in isolated plastids (Shepard and Leven, 1972 Huberer al., 1977). The actual fraction of [ ]02 which is utilized for amino acid biosynthesis in isolated plastids is usually quite small. Thus, reactions which normally occur outside of chloroplasts are considered to be of major importance in the synthesis of carbon skeletons such as oxaloacetate or pyruvate (Kirk and Leech, 1972 Leech and Murphy, 1976). 

The sequences of biochemical transformations involved in the synthesis of the aspartate family and branched-chain amino acids in multicellular plants are similar to those that occur in microorganisms. Support for this conclusion has been derived principally from isolation of a number of the requisite enzymes. Information on the kinetic and physical properties of enzymes is best achieved after extensive purification. In contrast, useful predictions of the physiological function of regulatory enzymes depend upon effective enzyme extraction and complete preservation of native properties. Since the latter objective has been emphasized during most investigations of enzymes associated with amino acid biosynthesis in plants, the bulk of our knowledge has been obtained from comparatively crude enzyme preparations. Results of both direct and competitive labeling experiments have added demonstrations of many of the predicted precursor-product relationships and a few metabolic intermediates have been isolated from plants. The nature of a number of intermediate reactions does, however, remain to be clarified notably, the reactions associated with the conversion of dihydropicolinate to lysine and those involved in the synthesis of leucine from 2-oxoisovalerate. 

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