Ornithine decarboxylation

D-193 DL-a-Difluoromediylomithine hydrochloride Irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylate (ODC) chemoprotective agent that blocks angiogenesis. 

Ornithine decarboxylation has been studied with preparations from E. coli and C. septicum. Since the latter organism does not attack any other amino acids, the specificity of this enzyme appears to be very great. Partical resolution of enzyme and coenzyme occurs in extracts of C. septicum on standing. 

Ornithine-Derived Alkaloids. Ornithine (23) undergoes biological decarboxylation reductively to generate either putrescine [110-60-1] (36), or its biological equivalent, and subsequent oxidation and cyclization gives rise to the pyrroline [6724-81-2], (37), C H N. 

Certain amino acids and their derivatives, although not found in proteins, nonetheless are biochemically important. A few of the more notable examples are shown in Figure 4.5. y-Aminobutyric acid, or GABA, is produced by the decarboxylation of glutamic acid and is a potent neurotransmitter. Histamine, which is synthesized by decarboxylation of histidine, and serotonin, which is derived from tryptophan, similarly function as neurotransmitters and regulators. /3-Alanine is found in nature in the peptides carnosine and anserine and is a component of pantothenic acid (a vitamin), which is a part of coenzyme A. Epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), derived from tyrosine, is an important hormone. Penicillamine is a constituent of the penicillin antibiotics. Ornithine, betaine, homocysteine, and homoserine are important metabolic intermediates. Citrulline is the immediate precursor of arginine. 

Ornithine decarboxylase is a pyridoxal dependent enzyme. In its catalytic cycle, it normally converts ornithine (7) to putrisine by decarboxylation. If it starts the process with eflornithine instead, the key imine anion (11) produced by decarboxylation can either alkylate the enzyme directly by displacement of either fluorine atom or it can eject a fluorine atom to produce viny-logue 12 which can alkylate the enzyme by conjugate addidon. In either case, 13 results in which the active site of the enzyme is alkylated and unable to continue processing substrate. The net result is a downturn in the synthesis of cellular polyamine production and a decrease in growth rate. Eflornithine is described as being useful in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, as an antiprotozoal or an antineoplastic substance [3,4]. 

Figure 31-4. Conversion of spermidine to spermine. Spermidine formed from putrescine (decarboxylated L-ornithine) by transfer of a propylamine moiety from...

To accommodate this new finding and the previous results, we considered a new pathway (Scheme 3), in which acetate or its derivative condenses with arginine followed by decarboxylation. Such Claisen-type condensation on alpha-amino acid has some precedent in biochemical systems (6). To prove this hypothesis, we synthesized [2- C, 2-arginine and ornithine and fed to A, flos-aquae (5). 

Lactobacillus delbrueckii. In 1953, Rodwell suggested that the histidine decarboxylase of Lactobacillus 30a was not dependent upon pyridoxal phosphate (11). Rodwell based his suggestion upon the fact that the organism lost its ability to decarboxylate ornithine but retained high histidine decarboxylase activity when grown in media deficient in pyridoxine. It was not until 1965 that E. E. Snell and coworkers (12) isolated the enzyme and showed that it was, indeed, free of pyridoxal phosphate. Further advances in characterization of the enzyme were made by Riley and Snell (13) and Recsei and Snell (14) who demonstrated the existence of a pyruvoyl residue and the participation of the pyruvoyl residue in histidine catalysis by forming a Schiff base intermediate in a manner similar to pyridoxal phosphate dependent enzymes. Recent studies by Hackert et al. (15) established the subunit structure of the enzyme which is similar to the subunit structure of a pyruvoyl decarboxylase of a Micrococcus species (16). 

True alkaloids derive from amino acid and they share a heterocyclic ring with nitrogen. These alkaloids are highly reactive substances with biological activity even in low doses. All true alkaloids have a bitter taste and appear as a white solid, with the exception of nicotine which has a brown liquid. True alkaloids form water-soluble salts. Moreover, most of them are well-defined crystalline substances which unite with acids to form salts. True alkaloids may occur in plants (1) in the free state, (2) as salts and (3) as N-oxides. These alkaloids occur in a limited number of species and families, and are those compounds in which decarboxylated amino acids are condensed with a non-nitrogenous structural moiety. The primary precursors of true alkaloids are such amino acids as L-ornithine, L-lysine, L-phenylalanine/L-tyrosine, L-tryptophan and L-histidine . Examples of true alkaloids include such biologically active alkaloids as cocaine, quinine, dopamine, morphine and usambarensine (Figure 4). A fuller list of examples appears in Table 1. 

The synthesis of alkaloids from L-ornithine starts with decarboxylation by the Pyridoxal Phosphate (PLP) to putrescine (Figure 33) and putrescine metylation by 5 -Adenosylmethionine (SAMe) to A-methylputrescine. The SAM is a naturally occurring reaction, when the departing groups convert... 

Many important neurotransmitters are primary or secondary amines, derived from amino acids in simple pathways. In addition, some polyamines that form complexes with DNA are derived from the amino acid ornithine, a component of the urea cycle. A common denominator of many of these pathways is amino acid decarboxylation, another PLP-requiring reaction (see Fig. 18-6). 

Polyamines such as spermine and spermidine, involved in DNA packaging, are derived from methionine and ornithine by the pathway shown in Figure 22-30. The first step is decarboxylation of ornithine, a precursor of arginine (Fig. 22-10). Ornithine decarboxylase, a PLP-requiring enzyme, is the target of several powerful inhibitors used as pharmaceutical agents (Box 22-2). ... 

In the formation of nicotine, a pyrrolidine ring derived from ornithine, most likely as the /V-methyl-A1 -pyrrolinium cation (see Figure 6.2) is attached to the pyridine ring of nicotinic acid, displacing the carboxyl during the sequence (Figure 6.31). A dihydronicotinic acid intermediate is likely to be involved allowing decarboxylation to the enamine 1,2-dihydropyridine. 

Tetrazole 8.27 is sufficiently similar to ornithine 8.25 in its physical properties to bind to the active site of the enzyme. However, as it obviously cannot undergo the decarboxylation process, it acts as an inhibitor of the enzyme. 

Recently, we have modeled9 intrinsic carbon kinetic isotope effects on the ornithine decarboxylase-catalyzed decarboxylations. Decarboxylations occur from the pyridoxal 5 -phosphate (PLP) - substrate complexes. These reactions provide a good model case since a number of 13C kinetic isotope effects for the wild-type enzyme and its mutants, as well as for physiological and slow substrates, have been reported.10 Using AM1/CHARMM/MD calculations on nearly 18000-atom models... 

The V-methyl -A1 -pyrrol ini um cation is the last common intermediate in both TA and nicotine biosynthesis (Fig.7.4). V-Methy 1-A1 -pyrrolinium cation formation begins with the decarboxylation of ornithine and arginine by ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and arginine decarboxylase (ADC), respectively. Putrescine is formed... 

Pyrrolidine is the simple five-membered cyclic amine and pyrrolidine alkaloids contain this ring somewhere in their structure. Both nicotine and atropine contain a pyrrolidine ring as do hygrine and tropinone. All are made in nature from ornithine. Ornithine is an amino acid not usually found in proteins but most organisms use it, often in the excretion of toxic substances. If birds are fed benzoic acid (PI1CO2H) they excrete dibenzoyl ornithine. When dead animals decay, the decarboxylation of ornithine leads to putrescine which, as its name suggest, smells revolting. It is the smell of death . 

The first step is a pyridoxal-catalysed decarboxylation of ornithine, which follows the normal sequence up to a point. 

Alanine and aspartic acid are produced commercially utilizing enzymes. In the case of alanine, the process of decarboxylation of aspartic acid by the aspartate decarboxylase from Pseudomonas dacunhae is commercialized. The annual world production of alanine is about 200 tons. Aspartic acid is produced commercially by condensing fumarate and ammonia using aspartase from Escherichia coli. This process has been made more convenient with an enzyme immobilization technique. Aspartic acid is used primarily as a raw material with phenylalanine to produce aspartame, a noncaloric sweetener. Production and sales of aspartame have increased rapidly since its introduction in 1981. Tyrosine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, serine, threonine, arginine, glutamine, proline, histidine, cit-rulline, L-dopa, homoserine, ornithine, cysteine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine also can be produced by enzymatic methods. 

The concept of inhibition via p elimination of fluoride ion has now been extended to the irreversible inhibition of a-amino acid decarboxylases. Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), which catalyzes the decarboxylation of ornithine to putrescine is irreversibly inhibited by a-difluoromethylornithine (IX Fig. 9) (28). In this case, the carbanion formation which precedes P elimination is generated by loss of CO2, and not by proton abstraction (Fig. 9). Similarly, aromatic amino acid decarboxylase is irreversibly inhibited by C-difluoromethyl-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (29) while histidine decarboxylase, ornithine decarboxylase and aromatic amino acid decarboxylase have been inhibited by the corresponding <=d-monof luoromethylanri.no acids, respectively (29). 

The assay described for amino acid decarboxylase can be used to quantitate the substrates and products associated with the decarboxylation of arginine, aspartate, 2,6-diaminopimelate, histidine, glutamate, lysine, and ornithine. 

The enzyme that catalyzes the decarboxylation of ornithine to putrescine is a key factor in the biosynthesis of polyamines ornithine decarboxylase is involved in the control of cell regulation, differentiation, and growth. 

---