Proline and hydroxyproline

In the oxidation of proline, glutamic acid is formed and in the oxidation of hydroxyproline, y-hydroxyglutamic acid is formed. Other intermediates are glutamic-y-semialdehyde and y-hydroxyglutamic-y-semi-aldehyde. These findings suggest the pattern of catabolism shown in Fig. 13. 

Taggart and Krakaur 174) determined that both L-proline and hydroxyproline were oxidized by the kidney cyclophorase system of Green. Proline was oxidized completely to CO , H2O, and NHa, whereas hy-drox5rproline was only partially oxidized. If AMP and Mg++ were omitted from the medium, glutamic acid was formed as an intermediate, and also a carbonyl compound not further identified. 

Metabolism of proline and hydroxyproline X represents H in proline and OH in hydro roline I, proline or hydroxyproline II, A -pyrroline-5-carboxylic add or A -pyrroliiKe-3-hydro]gr-3-carboxylic acid III, glutamic-y-semialdehyde or ir-hydixHgrglutamic- y-semialdehyde IV, glutamic acid or Y-hydroxyglutamic acid. 

Lang and Mayer 176) observed that proline was oxidized to glutamate by whole cells of a mutant strain of E. coli. The same authors found that extracts of liver mitochondria oxidized synthetic A -pyrroline-5-car-boxylate, which is formed spontaneously from glutamic-7-semialdehyde, to glutamate in the presence of DPN and phosphate. 

The same mitochondrial extracts also catalyzed the formation from proline of a carbonyl compound which reacts positively with 0-amino-benzaldehyde. This is a test for pyrroline carboxylate compounds. Unexpectedly, this oxidation reaction proceeded anaerobically. 

Glutamic acid as an intermediate is formed from proline by the action of the cyclophorase system in the absence of AMP and Mg++. Under these conditions the oxidation is incomplete, and its accumulation was demonstrated by tests with the glutamic acid decarboxylase of E. coli, and by the action of chloramine-T, which yielded an equivalent amount of succinic acid. In addition to glutamic acid, a bisulfite-binding intermediate is produced in about equal amount, which may be glutamic semialdehyde. 

The interrelationships between proline, ornithine, and glutamic acid are discussed further in the chapter Synthetic Processes Involving Amino Acids. 

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Thin-Layer Chromatography (tic). Tic (126) is used widely for quahtative analysis and micro-quantity separation of amino acid mixtures. The amino acids detected are developed by ninhydrin coloring, except for proline and hydroxyproline. Isatia has been recommended for specific coloring of pToline (127). 

The chromatograms stained with ninhydrin are immersed in the reagent solution for 1 s or sprayed evenly with it and then placed in the free half of a twin-trough chamber containing 25% ammonia solution. Apart from proline and hydroxyproline, which yield yellow copper complexes, all the amino acids yield reddish-colored chromatogram zones [3],... 

The tendencies of the amino acids to stabilize or destabilize a-helices are different in typical proteins than in polyamino acids. The occurrence of the common amino acids in helices is summarized in Table 6.1. Notably, proline (and hydroxyproline) act as helix breakers due to their unique structure, which fixes the value of the —N—C bond angle. Helices can be formed from either... 

Early examples of enantioselective extractions are the resolution of a-aminoalco-hol salts, such as norephedrine, with lipophilic anions (hexafluorophosphate ion) [184-186] by partition between aqueous and lipophilic phases containing esters of tartaric acid [184-188]. Alkyl derivatives of proline and hydroxyproline with cupric ions showed chiral discrimination abilities for the resolution of neutral amino acid enantiomers in n-butanol/water systems [121, 178, 189-192]. On the other hand, chiral crown ethers are classical selectors utilized for enantioseparations, due to their interesting recognition abilities [171, 178]. However, the large number of steps often required for their synthesis [182] and, consequently, their cost as well as their limited loadability makes them not very suitable for preparative purposes. Examples of ligand-exchange [193] or anion-exchange selectors [183] able to discriminate amino acid derivatives have also been described. 

The amino acids proline and hydroxyproline exert a stabilizing influence on the triple helix as described in detail in Sect. 4.5. By examining the CB peptides of collagen, a structural stability which is directly proportional to the itnino acid content may thus be found. It has, however, not been possible to synthesize model peptides displaying structural stability comparable to that of the native peptides having corresponding amino acid contents. 

Note It is possible to differentiate amino acids by color on the basis of the markedly different shades produced [2, 3]. Proline and hydroxyproline, that only react weakly with ninhydrin, also yield pink-red colored derivatives [2]. Ergot alkaloids and LSD are detected by spraying with 10% hydrochloric add and then heating to 110°C for 20 min after they have been treated with the reagent [9]. Ergot alkaloids and LSD yield red to purple zones when treated in this manner other alkaloids, e.g. reserpine, emetine, quinine, strychnine, pilocarpine, atropine, scopolamine, cocaine and opium alkaloids, do not give a reaction [9]. 

Floyd, R.A. Zs-Nagy (1984). Formation of long lived hydroxyl free radical adducts of proline and hydroxyproline in a Fenton reaction. Biochimica Bio-physica Acta, 790, 94-7. 

Other workers began to study the structure of gramicidin. Christensen and coworkers12 isolated crystalline tryptophane and leucine from a hydrolysate. They found no evidence for a fatty acid component and established that phenylalanine, proline and hydroxyproline were absent from a hydrolysate. These workers isolated alanine diox-pyridate from a hydrolysate and also established that gramicidin contained a compound with vicinal hydroxy and amino groups. They speculated that this compound might be serine or isoserine and proposed that gramicidin contains two tryptophane, 2 leucine, 2 or 3 alanine and 1 hydroxyamino residues or a multiple of this composition. 

Plaquet et al. (PI) found in the urine of rachitic children peptides consisting of proline, hydroxyproline, and glycine, which they believed to be the products of collagen degradation. Two similar peptides containing considerable amounts of proline and hydroxyproline were isolated from the urine of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis by Mechanic et al. (Ml). One of these peptides consisted of three proline, two hydroxyproline, and nine glutamic acid residues, the second one consisted of four proline, four hydroxyproline, and one glutamic acid residues. The N-terminal amino acid in the first peptide was demonstrated to be hydroxyproline. 

Ninhydrin (triketohydrindene hydrate) reacts with an amino acid when heated under acidic conditions (pH 3-4) to produce ammonia, carbon dioxide and a blue-purple complex. This reaction forms the basis of many widely used methods (Figure 10.11). One mole of carbon dioxide is liberated from each mole of amino acid, exceptions being the dicarboxylic amino acids, which produce two moles of carbon dioxide, and the a-imino acids, proline and hydroxyproline, which do not produce carbon dioxide. Although this formed the basis of a gasometric technique, colorimetric methods are now the most common. 

Primary amino acids will react with o-phthalaldehyde in the presence of the strongly reducing 2-mercaptoethanol (pH 9-11) to yield a fluorescent product (emission maximum, 455 nm excitation maximum, 340 nm). Peptides are less reactive than a-amino acids and secondary amines do not react at all. As a result, proline and hydroxyproline must first be treated with a suitable oxidizing agent such as chloramine T (sodium A-chloro-p-toluene-sulphonamide) or sodium hypochlorite, to convert them into compounds which will react. Similarly cystine and cysteine should also be first oxidized to cysteic acid. 

All primary amines react with fluorescamine under alkaline conditions (pH 9-11) to form a fluorescent product (Figure 10.12) (excitation maximum, 390 nm emission maximum, 475 nm). The fluorescence is unstable in aqueous solution and the reagent must be prepared in acetone. The secondary amines, proline and hydroxyproline, do not react unless they are first converted to primary amines, which can be done using A-chlorosuccinimide. Although the reagent is of interest because of its fast reaction rate with amino acids at room temperature, it does not offer any greater sensitivity than the ninhydrin reaction. 

Figure 11.3 The effect of imino acids on protein structure. The presence of the imino acids proline and hydroxyproline introduces a constraint into the angles of the peptide bond which results in a bend in the previously regular chain structure.

Isolation of individual amino acids started about 1820 by 1904 all of the naturally occurring amino acids in proteins had been isolated except methionine (Mueller, 1922) and threonine (Rose, 1937). One of the earliest methods for the separation of amino acids was through the differential volatility of their methyl or ethyl esters (Emil Fischer, 1901). This approach led to the discovery of valine, proline, and hydroxyproline. [In the 1970s Fischer s method was modified for microanalysis of proteins, separating the amino acid esters by gas phase chromatography. Separation is now usually performed by hplc (high pressure liquid chromatography).]... 

The method of protein hydrolysis was important acid hydrolysis caused destruction of tryptophan but alkaline treatment gave even greater losses of other amino acids especially cystine. The amino acids were usually separated by then standard chemical procedures based on differences in solubility, selective precipitation by agents such as Reinecke salt (proline and hydroxyproline), or flavianic acid (arginine). 

Sowden et al. [4] also did detailed amino acid and amino sugar analyses of the soils from the different dimatic regions. The following amino acids were determined acidic amino acids aspartic and glutamic acids basic amino acids arginine, histidine, lysine and ornithine neutral amino adds, phenylalanine, tyrosine, glycine, alanine, valine, leudne, isoleudne, serine, threonine, proline and hydroxyproline ... 

Proline and hydroxyproline differ from the other amino acids in that they contain a secondary amino group in a pyrrolidine ring therefore, they do not produce aminoketones and Strecker aldehydes in the reaction with dicarbonyls, ffowever, nitrogen heterocyclics are produced, including 1-pyrroline, pyrrolidine, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline and 2-acetyltetrahydropyridine (Scheme 12.5) [19]. 

This chapter deals with the very important a-amino acids, the building blocks of the proteins that are necessary for the function and structure of living ceils. Enzymes, the highly specific biochemical catalysts are proteins. or-Amino acids are dipolar ions (zwitterions), RCH(N" H,)COO , as is indicated by their crystallinity, high melting point, and solubility in water rather than in nonpolar solvents. The standard (naturally occurring) amino acids are listed in Table 21-1 those marked with an asterisk are essential amino acids that cannot be synthesized in the body and so must be in the diet. They have 1° NHj s except for proline and hydroxyproline (2°). They have different R groups. 

The amino acid must have an —NH,. Proline and hydroxyproline are 2° amines and do not evolve N, with MONO. 

These alkaloids contain pyrrole or modified pyrrole, e.g. pyrrolidine, ring system. The simplest example of this class is nicotine. A pyrrolidine ring is the central structure of the amino acids proline and hydroxyproline. These alkaloids are also found in many drug preparations, e.g. procyclidine hydrochloride, which is an antichohnergic drug mainly used for the treatment of drug-induced Parkinsonism, akathisia and acute dystonia. 

Quantitation of the amino acids proceeds through the postcolumn reaction with ninhydrin at 120-135°C, yielding a purple complex for the primary amino acids (absorbance measured at 570 nm) and a yellow complex for the amino acids proline and hydroxyproline (absorbance at 440 nm). 

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