Pyruvate decarboxylation, reversible

Malic enzyme (malate dehydrogenase (decarboxylating), EC 1.1.1.39) catalyzes reversible oxidative decarboxylation of malate to pyruvate. The enzyme uses NAD+ as an electron acceptor, but it is also able to utilize NADP+ with lower affinity (Drmota et al. 1996). With a subunit size of approximately 63 kDa, the Trichomonas hydrogenosomal malic enzyme belongs to the family of large, eukaryotic type of malic enzymes. In contrast, the approximately 40-kDa-subunit malic enzyme, located in the cytosol, belongs... 

The formation of ATP (or GTP) at the expense of the energy released by the oxidative decarboxylation of a-ketoglutarate is a substrate-level phosphorylation, like the synthesis of ATP in the glycolytic reactions catalyzed by glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and pyruvate kinase (see Fig. 14-2). The GTP formed by succinyl-CoA synthetase can donate its terminal phosphoryl group to ADP to form ATP, in a reversible reaction catalyzed by nucleoside diphosphate kinase (p. 505) ... 

We see that the essence of the action of thiamin diphosphate as a coenzyme is to convert the substrate into a form in which electron flow can occur from the bond to be broken into the structure of the coenzyme. Because of this alteration in structure, a bond breaking reaction that would not otherwise have been possible occurs readily. To complete the catalytic cycle, the electron flow has to be reversed again. The thiamin-bound cleavage product (an enamine) from either of the adducts in Eq. 14-20 can be reconverted to the thiazolium dipolar ion and an aldehyde as shown in step b of Eq. 14-21 for decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetaldehyde. 

Most known thiamin diphosphate-dependent reactions (Table 14-2) can be derived from the five halfreactions, a through e, shown in Fig. 14-3. Each halfreaction is an a cleavage which leads to a thiamin- bound enamine (center, Fig. 14-3) The decarboxylation of an a-oxo acid to an aldehyde is represented by step b followed by a in reverse. The most studied enzyme catalyzing a reaction of this type is yeast pyruvate decarboxylase, an enzyme essential to alcoholic fermentation (Fig. 10-3). There are two 250-kDa isoenzyme forms, one an a4 tetramer and one with an ( P)2 quaternary structure. The isolation of ohydroxyethylthiamin diphosphate from reaction mixtures of this enzyme with pyruvate52 provided important verification of the mechanisms of Eqs. 14-14,14-15. Other decarboxylases produce aldehydes in specialized metabolic pathways indolepyruvate decarboxylase126 in the biosynthesis of the plant hormone indoIe-3-acetate and ben-zoylformate decarboxylase in the mandelate pathway of bacterial metabolism (Chapter 25).1243/127... 

Formation of a-ketols from a-oxo acids also starts with step b of Fig. 14-3 but is followed by condensation with another carbonyl compound in step c, in reverse. An example is decarboxylation of pyruvate and condensation of the resulting active acetaldehyde with a second pyruvate molecule to give R-a-acetolactate, a reaction catalyzed by acetohydroxy acid synthase (acetolactate synthase).128 Acetolactate is the precursor to valine and leucine. A similar ketol condensation, which is catalyzed by the same synthase, is... 

Pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase. Within Clostridia and other strict anaerobes this enzyme catalyzes reversible decarboxylation of pyruvate (Eq. 15-35). The oxidant used by clostridia is the low-potential iron-sulfur ferredoxin.320 3203 Clostridial ferredoxins contain two Fe-S clusters and are therefore two-electron oxidants. Ferredoxin substitutes for NAD+ in Eq. 15-33 but the Gibbs energy decrease is much less (-16.9 vs - 34.9 kj / mol. for oxidation by NAD+). 

Pyruvate is converted to oxaloacetate (by pyruvate carboxylase). The oxaloacetate is decarboxylated and phosphorylated to phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEP carboxykinase). PEP is converted to fructose 1,6-bisphosphate by a direct reversal of several reactions in glycolysis. Next, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate is dephosphorylated to fructose 6-phosphate (by fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase) and this is then converted to glucose 6-phosphate (by phosphoglucoisomerase). Finally, glucose 6-phosphate is dephosphorylated (by glucose 6-phosphatase) to yield glucose. 

Figure 7-2. Reactions of the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDU) multienzyme complex (PDC). Pyruvate is decarboxylated by the PDH subunit (I ,) in the presence of thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP). The resulting hydroxyethyl-TPP complex reacts with oxidized lipoamide (LipS3), the prosthetic group of dehydrolipoamide transacetylase (Ii2), to form acetyl lipoamide. In turn, this intermediate reacts with coenzyme A (CoASH) to yield acetyl-CoA and reduced lipoamide [Lip(SH)2]. The cycle of reaction is completed when reduced lipoamide is reoxidized by the flavoprotein, dehydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3). Finally, the reduced flavoprotein is oxidized by NAD+ and transfers reducing equivalents to the respiratory chain via reduced NADH. PDC is regulated in part by reversible phosphorylation, in which the phosphorylated enzyme is inactive. Increases in the in-tramitochondrial ratios of NADH/NAD+ and acetyl-CoA/CoASH also stimulate kinase-mediated phosphorylation of PDC. The drug dichloroacetate (DCA) inhibits the kinase responsible for phosphorylating PDC, thus locking the enzyme in its unphosphory-lated, catalytically active state. Reprinted with permission from Stacpoole et al. (2003).

Diacetyl, acetoin and 2,3-butanediol These compounds are produced by condensing of pyruvate with ethanal. This reaction produces acetolactate which is later decarboxylated. Diacetyl is produced if the decarboxylation is oxidative, whereas acetoin is produced if the decarboxylation is not oxidative. Acetoin can also be formed by directly reducing diacetyl. Finally, acetoin can be reduced to form 2,3-butanediol. This last reaction is reversible (Ribereau-Gayon et al. 2000c). Acetoin and especially diacetyl give off a buttery smell that may... 

The further metabolism of pyruvate or PEP is still under investigation. Increasing support is available for the view that the C3 residue from decarboxylation is converted, by a reversal of glycolysis, into a storage carbohydrate which later serves... 

The transketolase (TK EC 2.2.1.1) catalyzes the reversible transfer of a hydroxy-acetyl fragment from a ketose to an aldehyde [42]. A notable feature for applications in asymmetric synthesis is that it only accepts the o-enantiomer of 2-hydroxyaldehydes with effective kinetic resolution [117, 118] and adds the nucleophile stereospecifically to the re-face of the acceptor. In effect, this allows to control the stereochemistry of two adjacent stereogenic centers in the generation of (3S,4R)-configurated ketoses by starting from racemic aldehydes thus this provides products stereochemically equivalent to those obtained by FruA catalysis. The natural donor component can be replaced by hydroxy-pyruvate from which the reactive intermediate is formed by a spontaneous decarboxylation, which for preparative purposes renders the overall addition to aldehydic substrates essentially irreversible [42]. 

Further proof that COj is assimilated by means of the enzyme oxalacetate /3-carboxylase was obtained by Evans and coworkers, who succeeded in preparing a cell-free preparation of this enzyme from liver. The enz3rme was able to catalyze the decarboxylation of oxalacetate to pyruvate. These investigators were able to demonstrate an uptake of C Oj. Utter and Wood have demonstrated conclusively, however, that in the presence of isotopic CO2, pyruvate can be converted to oxalacetate containing isotopic carbon and that the process is, of course, reversible. Addition of adenosine triphosphate to this liver enzyme system increased the rate of incorporation of C Os. Wood, Vennesland and Evans S have also shown that during the fixation of C02, isotopic carbon is incorporated solely and in equal concentrations into the carboxyl groups of pyruvate, lactate, malate and fumarate. 

Similarly, the pyruvate (oxidase) dehydrogenase complex (PYOX) can be activated directly by electrogenerated methyl viologen radical cations (MV" ) as mediator. Thus, the naturally PYOX-catalyzed oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvic acid in the presence of coenzyme A (HSCoA) to give acetylcoenzyme A (acetyl-SCoA) (see section on oxidases) can be reversed. In this way, electroenzymatic reductive carboxylation of acetyl-SCoA is made possible (Fig. 15). 

It is likely that nature has found more ways to catalyze the caiboxylation of pyruvate and its reverse, the decarboxylation of oxaloacetate, than any other reaction. In spite of the fact that the overall equilibrium strongly favors decarboxylation, a variety of enzymes catalyze the synthesis of oxaloacetate from pyruvate. We will examine a number of these enzymes in the following sections. 

Malic enzyme catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of malic acid or, in the reverse direction, the reductive carboxylation of pyruvic acid (26) [Eq. (8)]. 

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