Terpenoids isopentenyl diphosphate

In the 1970s the biosynthesis of cannabinoids was investigated with radiolabeling experiments. 14C-labeled mevalonate and malonate were shown to be incorporated into tetrahydrocannabinolic acid and cannabichromenic acid at very low rates (< 0.02%). Until 1990 the precursors of all terpenoids, isopentenyl diphosphate and dimethyl-allyl diphosphate were believed to be biosynthesized via the mevalonate pathway. Subsequent studies, however, proved that many plant terpenoids are biosynthesized via the recently discovered deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway (Eisenreich et al., 1998 Rohmer, 1999). It was shown that the Cio-terpenoid moiety of cannabinoids is biosynthesized entirely or predominantly (>98%) via this pathway (Fellermeister et al., 2001). The phenolic moiety is generated by a polyketide-type reaction sequence. 

In the Chapter 6 Focus On, "Terpenes Naturally Occurring Alkenes," we looked briefly at terpenoids, a vast and diverse group of lipids found in all living organisms. Despite their apparent structural differences, all terpenoids are related. All contain a multiple of five carbons and are derived biosynthetically from the five-carbon precursor isopentenyl diphosphate (Figure 27.6). Note that formally, a... 

Terpenoids are classified according to the number of five-carbon multiples they contain. Monoterpenoids contain 10 carbons and are derived from two isopentenyl diphosphates, sesquiterpenoids contain 15 carbons and are derived from three isopentenyl diphosphates, diterpenoids contain 20 carbons and are derived from four isopentenyl diphosphates, and so on, up to triterpenoids (C30) and tetraterpenoids (C40). Monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids are found primarily in plants, bacteria, and fungi, but the higher terpenoids occur in both plants and animals. The triterpenoid lanosterol, for example, is the precursor from which steroid hormones are made, and the tetraterpenoid /3-carotene is a dietary source of vitamin A (Figure 27.6). 

The terpenoid precursor isopentenyl diphosphate, formerly called isopentenyl pyrophosphate and abbreviated IPP, is biosynthesized by two different pathways depending on the organism and the structure of the final product. In animals and higher plants, sesquiterpenoids and triterpenoids arise primarily from the mevalonate pathway, whereas monoterpenoids, diterpenoids, and tetraterpenoids are biosynthesized by the 1-deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate (DXP) pathway. In bacteria,... 

O Phosphorylation of the tertiary hydroxyl and diphosphorylation of the primary hydroxyl, followed by decarboxylation and simultaneous expulsion of phosphate, gives isopentenyl diphosphate, the precursor of terpenoids,... 

The conversion of isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) to terpenoids begins with its isomerization to dimethylallyl diphosphate, abbreviated DMAPP and formerly called dimethylallyl pyrophosphate. These two C5 building blocks then combine to give the C10 unit geranyl diphosphate (GPP). The corresponding alcohol, geraniol, is itself a fragrant terpenoid that occurs in rose oil. 

Figure 27.8 An overview of terpenoid biosynthesis from isopentenyl diphosphate.

Eicosanoids and terpenoids are still other classes of lipids. Eicosanoids, of which prostaglandins are the most abundant kind, are derived biosynthetically from arachidonic acid, are found in all body tissues, and have a wide range of physiological activity. Terpenoids are often isolated from the essential oils of plants, have an immense diversity of structure, and are produced biosynthetically from the five-carbon precursor isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP). lsopentenyl diphosphate is itself biosynthesized from 3 equivalents of acetate in the mevalonate pathway. 

Since carotenoids are isoprenoids, they share a common early pathway with other biologically important isoprenoids such as sterols, gibberellins, phytol and the terpenoid quinones (Fig. 13.3). In all cases, these compounds are derived from the C5 isoprenoid, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP). Until a few years ago it was believed that a single pathway from the Cg precursor mevalonic acid (MVA) formed IPP, which itself was synthesised from hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG CoA) by the action of HMG... 

Subsequent cyclizations, dehydrogenations, oxidations, etc., lead to the individual naturally occurring carotenoids, but little is known about the biochemistry of the many interesting final structural modifications that give rise to the hundreds of diverse natural carotenoids. The carotenoids are isoprenoid compounds and are biosynthesised by a branch of the great isoprenoid pathway from the basic C5-terpenoid precursor, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP). The entire biosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts (in green tissues) or chromoplasts (in yellow to red tissues). 

McCASKILL, D., CROTEAU, R., Isopentenyl diphosphate is the terminal product of the deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate pathway for terpenoid biosynthesis in plants, Tetrahedron Lett., 1999,40,653-656. 

Ginsenosides are bios)mthesized via the isoprenoid pathway in the cytosol with mevalonic acid as the precursor for isopentenyl diphosphate (IFF) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), which are the two C5 starting units in the bios)mthesis of ginsenosides and other terpenoids... 

New enzymes for drug discovery have been identified through biosynthetic studies on microbial metabolites. It has been long accepted that isopentenyl diphosphate, an intermediate of sterols and terpenoids, is synthesized only through... 

Nature uses the isoprene equivalent isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) to synthesize terpenoids. 

Isoprene itself is not the true biological precursor of terpenoids.. As we ll see in Chapter 27, nature instead uses two "isoprene equivalents"—isopentenyl diphosphate and dimethylallyl diphosphate—which are themselves made by two different routes depending on the organism. Lanosterol, in particular, is biosynthesized from acetic acid by a complex pathway that has been workeo out in great detail. 

Assume that the three terpenoids in Problem 27.24 are derived bio.syntheti-cally from isopentenyl diphosphate and dimethylalhi diphosphate, each of w hich w as isotopically labeled at the diphosphate-bearing carbon atom (Cl). At what positions w ould the terpenoids be i.sotopicallv labeled ... 

All isoprenoids are biosynthesized from two isomeric 5-carbon compounds, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP, 86) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP, 87) (Fig. 11). The mammalian pathway for the biosynthesis of these key biosynthetic precursors from three acetyl-CoA units (83) via mevalonate (85) had been elucidated in the 1950s (51). In the wake of that pioneering work, it became established dogma that all terpenoids are invariably of mevalonate origin, even in the face of significant aberrant findings. 

Most terpenoids are derived from mevalonic acid (MVA) through the universal precursor isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and its allylic isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP). Thus, the vast majority of terpenoids contain the basic structural residue 2-methylbutane, often less precisely referred to as isoprene units. These C5 hemiterpene units combine with... 

Terpenoids are derived from the cytosolic mevalonate pathway or from the plastidial 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway (see also Terpenoid Biosynthesis). Both pathways lead to the formation of the C5 units isopentenyl diphosphate and its allylic isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate, which are the basic terpenoid biosynthesis building blocks (Fig. 1). Although increasing evidence suggests that exchange of intermediates occurs between these compartments, the cytoplasmic mevalonate pathway is generally considered to supply the precursors for the production of sesquiterpenes and triterpenes (including sterols) and to provide precursors for protein prenylation and for ubiquinone and heme-A production in mitochondria. In the plastids, the MEP pathway supplies the precursors for the production of isoprene, monoterpenes, diterpenes (e.g., GAs), and tetraterpenes (e.g., carotenoids). 

Although terpenoids are extraordinarily diverse, all of them originate through the condensation of the universal five-carbon precursors, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), Fig. (5). 

Mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase (MVP EC4.1.1.33) catalyzes the conversion of mevalonate diphosphate to isopentenyl diphosphate, a key building block for a large family of functionally important terpenoids. Fig. (6). This reaction is the third step in the biosynthesis of steroids and terpenoids from the mevalonate pathway, and the last well characterized step in the mevalonate pathway for the biosynthesis of isopentenyl pyrophophaste, the isoprenoids precursor [296-298]. Some reports showed that MVP is located predominantly in the cytosolic fraction and its expression is independent of peroxisome proliferation [299-300]. 

Isopentenyl diphosphate (pyrophosphate) (5.5) provides the isoprene unit of the terpenoids and steroids. There are two major routes by which it is formed (Scheme 5.1). The first involves mevalonic acid (5.4) and the second, quite... 

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