6-Pyruvoyl-tetrahydropterin synthase

Shintaku H, Niederwieser A, leimbacher W, Curtius HC (1988) Tetrahydrobiopterin deficiency assay for 6-pyruvoyl-tetrahydropterin synthase activity in erythrocytes, and detection of patients and heterozygous carriers. Eur J Pediatr 147 15-19... 

These oxidation reactions require oxygen (O2) and tetrahydrobiopterin as a cofactor. Thus, as shown in Scheme 13.39, 7,8-dihydroneopterin 3 -triphosphate (generated from guanosine triphosphate [GTP] as seen in Scheme 12.118) is converted to 6-pyruvoyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropterin by an elimination reaction and two keto-enol isomerizations. The process is catalyzed by the enzyme 6-pyruvoyltetra-hydropterin synthase (EC 4.2.3.12). Then, via an intermediate, written as an equilibrium between a-hydroxyketones (named dihydrosepiapterin) linked by a common enol, reduction to tetrahydrobiopterin is effected (in two separate steps) by 2 equivalents of NADPH used by the enzyme sepiapterin reductase (EC 1.1.1.153). Tetrahydrobiopterin is the cofactor involved in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shift (cf. Chapter 6) pathway used by the iron-containing enzyme phenylalanine 4-monooxygenase (EC 1.14.16.1) to convert phenylalanine (Phe, F) to tyrosine (Tyr, Y) and is converted to (6i )-6-(L-erythro-l,2-dihydroxypropyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4a-hydroxypterin in the process. 

---