4 -phosphopantethein

Pantothenic acid, sometimes called vitamin B3, is a vitamin that makes up one part of a complex coenzyme called coenzyme A (CoA) (Figure 18.23). Pantothenic acid is also a constituent of acyl carrier proteins. Coenzyme A consists of 3, 5 -adenosine bisphosphate joined to 4-phosphopantetheine in a phosphoric anhydride linkage. Phosphopantetheine in turn consists of three parts /3-mercaptoethylamine linked to /3-alanine, which makes an amide bond with a branched-chain dihydroxy acid. As was the case for the nicotinamide and flavin coenzymes, the adenine nucleotide moiety of CoA acts as a recognition site, increasing the affinity and specificity of CoA binding to its enzymes. 

The 4-phosphopantetheine group of CoA is also utilized (for essentially the same purposes) in acyl carrier proteins (ACPs) involved in fatty acid biosynthesis (see Chapter 25). In acyl carrier proteins, the 4-phosphopantetheine is covalently linked to a serine hydroxyl group. Pantothenic acid is an essential factor for the metabolism of fat, protein, and carbohydrates in the tricarboxylic acid cycle and other pathways. In view of its universal importance in metabolism, it is surprising that pantothenic acid deficiencies are not a more serious problem in humans, but this vitamin is abundant in almost all foods, so that deficiencies are rarely observed. 

Figure 21-2. Fatty acid synthase multienzyme complex. The complex is a dimer of two identical polypeptide monomers, 1 and 2, each consisting of seven enzyme activities and the acyl carrier protein (ACP). (Cys— SH, cysteine thiol.) The— SH of the 4 -phosphopantetheine of one monomer is in close proximity to the— SH of the cysteine residue of the ketoacyl synthase of the other monomer, suggesting a "head-to-tail" arrangement of the two monomers. Though each monomer contains all the partial activities of the reaction sequence, the actual functional unit consists of one-half of one monomer interacting with the complementary half of the other. Thus, two acyl chains are produced simultaneously. The sequence of the enzymes in each monomer is based on Wakil.

The section of the molecule discussed so far represents a functional unit. In the cell, it is produced from pantothenate. The molecule also occurs in a protein-bound form as 4 -phosphopantetheine in the enzyme fatty acid synthase (see p. 168). In coenzyme A, however, it is bound to 3, 5 -adenosine diphosphate. 

Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) is both present in many nutrientcients and it is also produced by intestinal bacteria. Deficiency is therefore thought to be unlikely. Its active form, 4-phosphopantetheine, is an element of both coenzyme-A and acyl-carrier protein and thus participates in fatty acid synthesis and in the posttranslational modification of proteins. Acetylcoenzyme-A is important for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. 

FIGURE 21-4 Acyl carrier protein (ACP). The prosthetic group is 4 -phosphopantetheine, which is covalently attached to the hydroxyl group of a Ser residue in ACP. Phosphopantetheine contains the B vitamin pantothenic acid, also found in the coenzyme A molecule. Its —SH group is the site of entry of malonyl groups during fatty acid synthesis. 

The remaining series of reactions of fatty acid synthesis in eukary-l otes is catalyzed by the multifunctional, dimeric enzyme, fatty acid synthase. Each fatty acid synthase monomer is a multicatalytic polypeptide with seven different enzymic activities plus a domain that covalently binds a molecule of 4 -phosphopantetheine. [Note 4-Phosphopantetheine, a derivative of the vitamin pantothenic add (see p. 379), carries acetyl and acyl units on its terminal thiol (-SH)j group during fatty acid synthesis. It also is a component of 00-enzyme A.] In prokaryotes, fatty acid synthase is a multienzyme complex, and the 4 -phosphopantetheine domain is a separate protein, referred to as the acyl carrier protein (ACP). ACP is used below to refer to the phosphopantetheine-binding domain of the eukaryotic fatty acid synthase molecule. The reaction numbers in1 brackets below refer to Figure 16.9. [Note The enzyme activities listed are actually separate catalytic domains present in each mulf-1 catalytic fatty acid synthase monomer.]... 

Smith, S. 1981. Long-chain fatty acyl-s-4 -phosphopantetheine-fatty acid synthase thioester hydrolase from rat. In Methods in Enzymology, Vol. 71. J.M. Lowenstein (Editor). Academic Press, New York, pp. 181-188. 

In higher animals as well as in My cobacterium,207 yeast,208 and Euglena, the fatty acid synthase consists of only one or two multifunctional proteins. The synthase from animal tissues has seven catalytic activities in a single 263-kDa 2500-residue protein 209 The protein consists of a series of domains that contain the various catalytic activities needed for the entire synthetic sequence. One domain contains an ACP-like site with a bound 4 -phosphopantetheine as well as a cysteine side chain in the second acylation site. This synthase produces free fatty acids, principally the C16 palmitate. The final step is cleavage of the acyl-CoA by a thioesterase, one of the seven enzymatic activities of the synthase. See Chapter 21 for further discussion. 

The soluble enzyme system responsible for its synthesis contains a large 280-kDa protein that not only activates the amino acids as aminoacyl adenylates and transfers them to thiol groups of 4 -phosphopantetheine groups covalently attached to the enzyme but also serves as a template for joining the amino acids in proper sequence.211-214 Four amino acids—proline, valine, ornithine (Om), and leucine—are all bound. 

Phosphopantetheine coenzymes are the biochemically active forms of the vitamin pantothenic acid. In figure 10.11, 4 -phosphopantetheine is shown as covalently linked to an adenylyl group in coenzyme A or it can also be linked to a protein such as a serine hydroxyl group in acyl carrier protein (ACP). It is also found bonded to proteins that catalyze the activation and polymerization of amino acids to polypeptide antibiotics. Coenzyme A was discovered, purified, and structurally characterized by Fritz Lipmann and colleagues in work for which Lipmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1953. 

One system in which pantetheine almost certainly performs such a carrier role is the fatty acid synthase from E. coli, in which 4 -phosphopantetheine is a component of the acyl carrier protein (see chapter 18). 

The synthetase consists of the three modules E1, E2, and E3 (for a complete description, see Sec. II. A). Each module is composed of an activation site forming the acyl or aminoacyl adenylate, a carrier domain which is posttranslationally modified with 4 -phosphopantetheine (Sp), and a condensation domain (Cl, C2) or, alternatively, a structurally similar epimerization domain (Ep). Activation of aminoadipate (Aad) leads to an acylated enzyme intermediate, in which Aad is attached to the terminal cysteamine of the cofactor (El-Spl-Aad) [reactions (1) and (2)]. Likewise, activation of cysteine (Cys) leads to cysteinylated module 2 [reactions (3) and (4)]. For the condensation reaction to occur between aminoadipate as donor and cysteine as acceptor, both intermediates are thought to react at the condensation site of module 1 (Cl). Each condensation site is composed, in analogy to ribosomal peptide formation, of an aminoacyl and a peptidyl site. In this case of initiation, the thioester of Aad enters the P-site, while the thioester of Cys enters the A-site. Condensation occurs and leaves the dipeptidyl intermediate Aad-Cys at the carrier protein of the second module [reaction (5)]. The third amino acid valine is activated on module 3, and Val is attached to the carrier protein 3 [reactions (6) and (7)]. Formation of the tripeptide occurs at the second condensation site C2, with the dipeptidyl intermediate entering the P-site and the valiny 1-intermediate the A-site [reaction (8)]. 

Phosphopantothenic acid reacts with cysteine, forming 4 -phosphopant-othenyl cysteine, which is decarboxylated to 4 -phosphopantetheine in a flavin-dependent reaction. In most bacteria, phosphopantetheinyl cysteine synthase and decarboxylase occur as a single bifunctional enzyme, but the human enzymes occur as two separate proteins (Daugherty et al., 2002). 

CoA undergoes dephosphorylation, catalyzed by lysosomal acid phosphatase, to dephospho-CoA, followed by pyrophosphatase action to release 4 -phosphopantetheine and 5 -AMP - the reverse of the final stages of CoA synthesis shown in Figure 12.2. CoA is also a substrate for direct pyrophosphatase action, at about 10% of the rate of action on dephospho-CoA. The pyrophosphatase seems to be a general nucleotide pyrophosphatase of plasma membrane rather than an enzyme specific for the degradation of CoA. 

Although fatty acid 8-oxidation is catalyzed by a series of intramitochon-drial enzymes, and the fatty acyl chain is carried by CoA, fatty acid synthesis is catalyzed by a cytosolic-multienzyme complex in which the growing fatty acyl chain is bound by thioester linkage to an enzyme-bound 4 -phosphopantetheine residue. This component of the fatty acid synthetase complex is ACP. 

Apo-ACP is activated by a transferase, holo-ACP synthetase, which transfers 4 -phosphopantetheine from CoA to the hydroxyl group of a serine residue in the apoprotein, releasing ADP. ACP is inactivated by a hydrolase that releases 4 -phosphopantetheine, which can be reutilized for CoA synthesis. 

Once the hexameric structure of the yeast FAS was established, the number of functional active sites still remained to be determined. Earlier studies had shown that the functional complex contains approximately six equivalents each of two prosthetic groups 4 -phosphopantetheine [60,63], necessary for the AGP functionality, and flavin mononucleotide [64], an essential component of the enoyl reductase activity. These studies provided an early indication that each of the six active sites in the complex has a full set of the chemical groups necessary for fatty acid synthesis. Nevertheless, conflicting reports appeared in the literature as to the competence of six active sites. Whereas some reports suggested the possibility of half-sites reactivity (only three of the six sites are catalytically competent) [65, 66], others proposed that all six active sites could synthesize fatty acids [62]. Subsequent active site titration experiments were performed which quantitated the amount of fatty acyl products formed in the absence of turnover [67]. Single-turnover conditions were achieved through the use of... 

MSAS from P. patulum was separated from the FAS via sucrose gradient centrifugation [121,122] and thus shown to constitute a distinct multifunctional enzymatic system. It was purified to homogeneity and found to be a 190 kDa multifunctional enzyme [22,120]. The enzyme was more stable in the presence of its substrates and at mildly basic pH values. The pH optimum of the enzyme was 7.6 and apparent K values for its substrates were 10 pM (acetyl-CoA), 7 pM (malonyl CoA), and 12 pM (NADPH) [115,120,123]. The rate for triacetate lactone formation in the absence of NADPH was determined to be ten-fold lower than for 6-MSA formation (Fig. 5) [120]. Analogous to FASs and peptide synthetases, 4 -phosphopantetheine is a covalently bound cofactor of 6-MSAS [124]. Likewise, iodoacetamide and N-ethylmaleimide were found to inactivate the enzyme, suggesting the presence of catalytic sulfhydryl residues in 6-MSAS [124]. Furthermore, in the presence of malonyl CoA and NADPH, low concentrations of iodoacetamide convert 6-MSAS into a malonyl CoA decarboxylase. Without external addition of acetyl-CoA, 6-MSAS decarboxylates the malonyl group and the derived acetyl moiety is used as a starter unit for the formation of 6-MSA [125]. 

The catalytic mechanisms and molecular recognition properties of peptide synthetases have been studied for several decades [169]. Nonribosomal peptides are assembled on a polyenzyme-protein template, first postulated by Lipmann [170]. The polyenzyme model was refined into the thiotemplate mechanism (Fig. 11) in which the amino acid substrates are covalently bound via thioester linkages to active site sulfhydryls of the enzyme and condensed via a processive mechanism involving a 4 -phosphopantetheine carrier [171-173].The presence of a covalently attached pantetheine cofactor was first established in a cell-free system that catalyzed enzymatic synthesis of the decapeptides gramicidin S and tyrocidine. As in the case of fatty acid synthesis, its role in binding and translocating the intermediate peptides was analyzed [174,175]. 

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