Pyridoxal phosphate enzymes acids

Pyridoxal phosphate enzymes mediate the nonoxidative decarboxylation of amino acids. This mechanism is of primary importance in bacteria, but it may be essential to proper function of the nervous system in humans... 

The chromophoric pyridoxal phosphate coenzyme provides a useful spectrophotometric probe of catalytic events and of conformational changes that occur at the pyridoxal phosphate site of the P subunit and of the aiPi complex. Tryptophan synthase belongs to a class of pyridoxal phosphate enzymes that catalyze /3-replacement and / -elimination reactions.3 The reactions proceed through a series of pyridoxal phosphate-substrate intermediates (Fig. 7.6) that have characteristic spectral properties. Steady-state and rapid kinetic studies of the P subunit and of the aiPi complex in solution have demonstrated the formation and disappearance of these intermediates.73-90 Fig. 7.7 illustrates the use of rapid-scanning stopped-flow UV-visible spectroscopy to investigate the effects of single amino acid substitutions in the a subunit on the rate of reactions of L-serine at the active site of the P subunit.89 Formation of enzyme-substrate intermediates has also been observed with the 012P2 complex in the crystalline state.91 ... 

Figure 23.12. Bond Cleavage by PLP Enzymes. Pyridoxal phosphate enzymes lahilize one of three bonds at the a-carhon atom of an amino acid substrate. For example, bond a is labilized by aminotransferases, bond b by decarboxylases, and bond c by aldolases (such as threonine aldolases). PLP enzymes also catalyze reactions at the ()- and y-carbon atoms of amino acids. 

Quite recently Weber and Wiss (W8) studied the influence of vitamin Be depletion on various pyridoxal phosphate enzymes and found that rat liver kynureninase is much more affected by vitamin Be deficiency than kynurenine transaminase. In fact liver kynureninase of rats on a Be-deficient diet fell to 17%, whereas kynurenine transaminase was about 58% of the original activity after the same period. The different behavior of these two enzymes offers a way of studying closely the mechanism of the increased excretion of xanthurenic acid in pyridoxine... 

Our laboratory has studied the stereochemistry of methyl group formation in a number of a, 0 elimination reactions of amino acids catalyzed by pyridoxal phosphate enzymes. The reactions include the conversions of L-serine to pyruvate with tryptophan synthase 02 protein (78) and tryptophanase (79), of L-serine and l-tyrosine with tyrosine phenol-lyase (80), and l-cystine with S-alkylcysteine lyase (81). In the latter study, the stereospecific isotopically labeled L-cystines were obtained enzymatically by incubation of L-serines appropriately labeled in the 3-position with the enzyme O-acetyl serine sulfhy-drase (82). The serines tritiated in the 3-position were prepared enzymatically starting from [l-3H]glucose and [l-3H]mannose by a sequence of reactions of known stereochemistry (81). The cysteines were then incubated with 5-alkyl-cysteine lyase in 2H20 as outlined in Scheme 19. The pyruvate was trapped as lactate, which was oxidized with K2Cr202 to acetate for analysis. Similarly, Cheung and Walsh (71) examined the conversion of D-serine to pyruvate with... 

The reactions of the Cu(II), Fe(III), and Al(III) chelates of Schiff bases formed by the condensation of pyridoxal with amino acids and peptides were found by Snell to have catalytic properties similar to those of the pyridoxal phosphate enzymes. A typical metal-catalyzed reaction of this type would be the transamination of pyridoxal and alanine according to... 

Except in the case of racemases, pyridoxal phosphate enzymes are stereospecific. This has been illustrated dramatically in experiments with glutamic decarboxylase." The mechanism for decarboxylation postulated earlier involves only electron shifts about the a-carbon, while the a-hydrogen remains fixed. This mechanism was supported when it was found that the a-hydrogen does not exchange with D2O during enzymatic decarboxylation. The resulting mono-D-7-aminobutyric acid was found to... 

An example of a biologically important aide hyde is pyridoxal phosphate which is the active form of vitamin Bg and a coenzyme for many of the reac tions of a ammo acids In these reactions the ammo acid binds to the coenzyme by reacting with it to form an imine of the kind shown in the equation Re actions then take place at the ammo acid portion of the imine modifying the ammo acid In the last step enzyme catalyzed hydrolysis cleaves the imme to pyridoxal and the modified ammo acid... 

Most amino acids lose their nitrogen atom by a transamination reaction in which the -NH2 group of the amino acid changes places with the keto group of ct-ketoglutarate. The products are a new a-keto acid plus glutamate. The overall process occurs in two parts, is catalyzed by aminotransferase enzymes, and involves participation of the coenzyme pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), a derivative of pyridoxine (vitamin UJ. Different aminotransferases differ in their specificity for amino acids, but the mechanism remains the same. 

Pyridoxal phosphate mainly serves as coenzyme in the amino acid metabolism and is covalently bound to its enzyme via a Schiff base. In the enzymatic reaction, the amino group of the substrate and the aldehyde group of PLP form a Schiff base, too. The subsequent reactions can take place at the a-, (3-, or y-carbon of the respective substrate. Common types of reactions are decarboxylations (formation of biogenic amines), transaminations (transfer of the amino nitrogen of one amino acid to the keto analog of another amino acid), and eliminations. 

In nature, aminotransferases participate in a number of metabolic pathways [4[. They catalyze the transfer of an amino group originating from an amino acid donor to a 2-ketoacid acceptor by a simple mechanism. First, an amino group from the donor is transferred to the cofactor pyridoxal phosphate with formation of a 2-keto add and an enzyme-bound pyridoxamine phosphate intermediate. Second, this intermediate transfers the amino group to the 2-keto add acceptor. The readion is reversible, shows ping-pong kinetics, and has been used industrially in the production ofamino acids [69]. It can be driven in one direction by the appropriate choice of conditions (e.g. substrate concentration). Some of the aminotransferases accept simple amines instead of amino acids as amine donors, and highly enantioselective cases have been reported [70]. 

Pyridoxal phosphate is a coenzyme for many enzymes involved in amino acid metabolism, especially in transamination and decarboxylation. It is also the cofactor of glycogen phosphorylase, where the phosphate group is catalytically important. In addition, vitamin Bg is important in steroid hormone action where it removes the hormone-receptor complex from DNA binding, terminating the action of the hormones. In vitamin Bg deficiency, this results in increased sensitivity to the actions of low concentrations of estrogens, androgens, cortisol, and vitamin D. 

Pantothenic acid is present in coenzyme A and acyl carrier protein, which act as carriers for acyl groups in metabolic reactions. Pyridoxine, as pyridoxal phosphate, is the coenzyme for several enzymes of amino acid metabolism, including the aminotransferases, and of glycogen phosphorylase. Biotin is the coenzyme for several carboxylase enzymes. 

GOT (AST is the more recent abbreviation) catalyzes the transamination of 1-aspartic acid in the presence of a-ketoglut-aric acid, with pyridoxal phosphate being a required co-enzyme. The reaction is ... 

By contrast, the cytoplasmic decarboxylation of dopa to dopamine by the enzyme dopa decarboxylase is about 100 times more rapid (Am 4x 10 " M) than its synthesis and indeed it is difficult to detect endogenous dopa in the CNS. This enzyme, which requires pyridoxal phosphate (vitamin B6) as co-factor, can decarboxylate other amino acids (e.g. tryptophan and tyrosine) and in view of its low substrate specificity is known as a general L-aromatic amino-acid decarboxylase. 

Histamine is synthesised by decarboxylation of histidine, its amino-acid precursor, by the specific enzyme histidine decarboxylase, which like glutaminic acid decarboxylase requires pyridoxal phosphate as co-factor. Histidine is a poor substrate for the L-amino-acid decarboxylase responsible for DA and NA synthesis. The synthesis of histamine in the brain can be increased by the administration of histidine, so its decarboxylase is presumably not saturated normally, but it can be inhibited by a fluoromethylhistidine. No high-affinity neuronal uptake has been demonstrated for histamine although after initial metabolism by histamine A-methyl transferase to 3-methylhistamine, it is deaminated by intraneuronal MAOb to 3-methylimidazole acetic acid (Fig. 13.4). A Ca +-dependent KCl-induced release of histamine has been demonstrated by microdialysis in the rat hypothalamus (Russell et al. 1990) but its overflow in some areas, such as the striatum, is neither increased by KCl nor reduced by tetradotoxin and probably comes from mast cells. 

Reducing the availability of GABA by blocking the synthesising enzyme GAD also promotes convulsions. This may be achieved by substrate competition (e.g. 3-mercapto propionic acid), irreversible inhibition (e.g. allylglycine) or reducing the action or availability of its co-factor pyridoxal phosphate (e.g. various hydrazides such as semi-carbazide). In fact pyridoxal phosphate deficiency has been shown to be the cause of convulsions in children. 

Pyridoxal 5 phosphate enzymes are generally used when amino acids are supplied as sources of carbon or nitrogen. An aldimine is produced initially and is isomerized to... 

Hydrogen sulfide is a well known general metabolite produced on sulfate reduction by certain bacteria. Moreover, organic forms of sulfur can give rise to HS , hence H2S in certain bacteria. Thus, cysteine desulfhydrase (EC 4.4.1.1, cystathionine y-lyase) converts L-cysteine to H2S, pyruvate, and NH3. This enzyme shows a requirement for pyridoxal phosphate and the unstable ami-noacrylic acid is an intermediate (Equation 1) in the reaction ... 

These enzymes invariably involve a cofactor, pyridoxal phosphate (vitamin B6). In addition, pyridoxal phosphate is also required for most decarboxylations, racemizations, or elimination reactions in which an amino acid is a substrate. Pyridoxal phosphate is not involved in decarboxylations in which the substrate is not an amino acid. So if a question... 

Rudinskas, A.J. and Hullar, T.L., Pyridoxal phosphate. 5. 2-Formylethy-nylphosphonic acid and 2-formylethylphosphonic acid, potent inhibitors of pyridoxal phosphate binding and probes of enzyme topography, /. Med. Chem., 19, 1367, 1976. 

In addition to a-allenic a-amino acids, the corresponding allenic derivatives of y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) have also been synthesized as potential inhibitors of the pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzyme GABA-aminotransferase (Scheme 18.49) [131,138-142]. The synthesis of y-allenyl-GABA (152) and its methylated derivatives was accomplished through Crabbe reaction [131], aza-Cope rearrangement [138] and lactam allenylation [139], whereas the fluoroallene 153 was prepared by SN2 -reduc-tion of a propargylic chloride [141]. 

The addition of cofactors to antibodies is a sure means to confer a catalytic activity to them insofar as this cofactor is responsible for the activity. Indeed for many enzymes, the interaction with cofactors such as thiamins, flavins, pyridoxal phosphate, and ions or metal complexes is absolutely essential for the catalysis. It is thus a question there of building a new biocatalyst with two partners the cofactor responsible for the catalytic activity, and the antibody which binds not only the cofactor but also the substrate that it positions in a specific way one with respect to the other, and can possibly take part in the catalysis thanks to some of its amino acids. 

The Schiff base can undergo a variety of reactions in addition to transamination, shown in Fig. 6.4 for example, racemization of the amino acid via the a-deprotonated intermediate. Many of these reactions are catalyzed by metal ions and each has its equivalent nonmetallic enzyme reaction, each enzyme containing pyridoxal phosphate as a coenzyme. Many ideas of the mechanism of the action of these enzymes are based on the behavior of the model metal complexes. 

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