Thiamin diphosphate dependent decarboxylation

Other organisms are equipped to produce ethanol, by employing a thiamine diphosphate-dependent decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetaldehyde (see Section 15.8) and NAD+ is regenerated by reducing the acetaldehyde to ethanol. This is a characteristic of baker s yeast, and forms the essential process for both bread making (production of CO2) and the brewing industry (formation of ethanol). 

Scheme 21. Thiamine-diphosphate-dependent decarboxylation of hydroxypyruvate by transketolase...

Scheme 3 Thiamin diphosphate-dependent decarboxylation of benzoylfonnic acid to benzaldehyde. Reprinted with permission from Reference 50. Copyright 2006 American Chemical Society.

Nemeria, N. S., Baykal, A., Ebenezer, J., Zhang, S., Yan, Y., Furey, W., Jordan, F. (2004). Tehtrahedral intermediates in thiamin diphosphate-dependent decarboxylations exist as a l, 4 -imino tautomeric form of the coenzyme, unlike the Michaelis complex or the free coenzyme. Biochemistry 43, 6565—6575. 

Thiamin diphosphate (TDP) functions as a cofactor to overcome a chemically difficult problem in carbon-carbon formation and cleavage (77). Editor s note Thiamin diphosphate-dependent decarboxylation is discussed in Chapter 6 by O Leary.) The reaction pattern is exemplified by the decarboxylation of pyruvate to give acetaldehyde (or a more oxidized species) and carbon dioxide. In this reaction, the bond that is broken is not inherently activated toward the reaction. The bond that is to be cleaved is between two carbonyl functions. Since these groups are similarly polarized, heterolytic cleavage is not a likely process. Non-enzymically, the direct cleavage of such a bond involves a homolytic (radical) process. 

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... 

The third type of carbon-branched unit is 2-oxoisovalerate, from which valine is formed by transamination. The starting units are two molecules of pyruvate which combine in a thiamin diphosphate-dependent a condensation with decarboxylation. The resulting a-acetolactate contains a branched chain but is quite unsuitable for formation of an a amino acid. A rearrangement moves the methyl group to the (3 position (Fig. 24-17), and elimination of water from the diol forms the enol of the desired a-oxo acid (Fig. 17-19). The precursor of isoleucine is formed in an analogous way by condensation, with decarboxylation of one molecule of pyruvate with one of 2-oxobutyrate. 

The pathway also operates in some bacteria and apparently is the sole source of isoprenoid compounds for the unicellular alga Scenedesmus.28 The pathway is outlined in Fig. 22-2. Pyruvate is decarboxylated by a thiamin diphosphate-dependent enzyme,29 and the resulting enamine is condensed with D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate to form 1-deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate.28, i0 31a The latter undergoes an isomeroreductase rearrange-... 

Polled hereford calves in Australia develop maple syrup urine disease relatively often/ 6 One cause was established as a mutation that introduces a stop codon that causes premature termination within the leader peptide during synthesis of the thiamin diphosphate-dependent El subunit. A similar biochemical defect in a mutant of Bacillus subtilis causes difficulties for this bacterium, which requires branched-chain fatty acids in its membranes. Branched acyl-CoA derivatives are needed as starter pieces for their synthesis (Chapter 29). With the oxidative decarboxylation of the necessary oxoacids blocked, the mutant is unable to grow unless supplemented with branched-chain fatty acids. 

Biomimetic Synthesis of Solerone. We applied pyruvate decarboxylase [EC 4.1.1.1] (PDC) as key enzyme for the biomimetic synthesis elucidating the formation of solerone 1 figure 1). The thiamine diphosphate depending enzyme from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is responsible for the decarboxylation of pyruvate in the course of alcoholic fermentation. After loss of carbon dioxide from 2-oxoacids the resulting aldehyde is released. Alternatively, the cofactor-bound decarboxylation product can react with a further aldehyde. By the latter acyloin condensation a new carbon-carbon bond will be formed, thus opening a biosynthetic way to a-hydroxy carbonyl compounds 11J2). 

An elegant work is reported concerning the oxidation of 2-alkyl and 2-benzylthia-zolium salts, in the presence of a base, with the scope of finding a structural relationship for the thiamine-bound intermediate which intervene in the oxidative decarboxylation of a-ketoacids catalysed by thiamin diphosphate-dependent enzymes. 2-Alkyl and 2-benzylthiazolium salts, which are not electroactive, can be transformed into electroactive species by treatment with the base (trimethylsilyl)amide. Subsequent anodic oxidation affords the corresponding symmetrical dimers, by an EC mechanism (Scheme 72). As expected, the stabilizing effect of the substituents R, R at the a-carbon on the radical cation follows the order H < Me < OMe. When R is aryl, electron-donating p-substituents again enhance the enamine oxidation. 

Thiamine diphosphate (TDP) is an essential coenzyme in carbohydrate metabolism. TDP-dependent enzymes catalyze carbon-carbon bond-breaking and -forming reactions such as a-keto acid decarboxylations (oxidative and non-oxidative) and condensations, as well as ketol transfers (trans- and phospho-ketolation). Some of these processes are illustrated in Fig. 12. 

Structures of Thiamin-Dependent Enzymes 4. The Variety of Enzymatic Reactions Involving Thiamin 5. Oxidative Decarboxylation and 2-Acetylthiamin Diphosphate. 6. Thiamin Coenzymes in Nerve Action 753. .. Table 14-4 Some Pyruvoyl Enzymes... 

The vitamins K and other naphthoquinones arise from O-succinylbenzoate84 86 whose synthesis from chorismate and 2-oxoglutarate depends upon a thiamine diphosphate-bound intermediate, as indicated in Fig. 25-4. Elimination of pyruvate yields O-succinylbenzoate. The remaining reactions of decarboxylation, methylation, and prenylation (Fig. 25-4) resemble those of ubiquinone synthesis. 

The quinone ring is derived from isochorismic acid, formed by isomerization of chorismic acid, an intermediate in the shikirnic acid pathway for synthesis of the aromatic amino acids. The first intermediate unique to menaquinone formation is o-succinyl benzoate, which is formed by a thiamin pyrophosphate-dependent condensation between 2-oxoglutarate and chorismic acid. The reaction catalyzed by o-succinylbenzoate synthetase is a complex one, involving initially the formation of the succinic semialdehyde-thiamin diphosphate complex by decarboxylation of 2-oxoglutarate, then addition of the succinyl moiety to isochorismate, followed by removal of the pyruvoyl side chain and the hydroxyl group of isochorismate. 

Some reactions of thiamine, such as decarboxylation of a-oxocarboxylic acids, are features of primary metabolism (decarboxylation of pyruvic acid to acetaldehyde in glycolysis and transformation of pyruvic acid to acetyl-CoA prior to its entry into the citric acid cycle) that depend on thiamine diphosphate as a coenzyme. The thiamine ring has an acidic hydrogen and is thus capable of producing the carbanion that acts as a nucleophile towards carbonyl groups. Analogous reactions proceed non-enzymatically and can thus be included among the so-called... 

Decarboxylation is one of the most common processes in natural metabolism. All decarboxylases [EC 4.1.1.-] cleave a substrate carboxylic group with or without the requirement of an enzymatic cofactor. There are three known decarboxylase types (i) thiamine diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent decarboxylases, (ii) pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)-dependent decarboxylases, and (iii) cofactor-independent decarboxylases (Figure 3.1) [1-4]. Cofactor-independent decarboxylases are specific for activated substrates. 

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