Tricarboxylic acid cycle pyruvate

The citrate cycle is the final common pathway for the oxidation of acetyl-CoA derived from the metabolism of pyruvate, fatty acids, ketone bodies, and amino acids (Krebs, 1943 Greville, 1968). This is sometimes known as the Krebs or tricarboxylic acid cycle. Acetyl-CoA combines with oxaloacetate to form citrate which then undergoes a series of reactions involving the loss of two molecules of CO2 and four dehydrogenation steps. These reactions complete the cycle by regenerating oxaloacetate which can react with another molecule of acetyl-CoA (Figure 4). 

Senior, A.E. Shenatt, H.S.A. (1968). Biochemical effects of the hypoglycaemic compound pent-4-enoic acid and related non-hypoglycemic fatty acids. Oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial oxidation of pyruvate, 3-hydroxybutyrate and tricarboxylic acid-cycle intermediates. Biochem. J. 110,499-509. 

With oxygen present, pyruvate is oxidized by the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA). 

The pyruvate oxidase system (p. 139) should now be interpreted as pyruvate dihydrogenase together with the enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The fact that sodium fluoroacetate itself did not poison the tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes in... 

The tricarboxylic acid cycle was therefore validated, having been tested not only in pigeon-breast muscle but also with brain, testis, liver, and kidney. The nature of the carbohydrate fragment entering the cycle was still uncertain. The possibility that pyruvate and oxaloacetate condensed to give a 7C derivative which would be decarboxy-lated to citrate, was dismissed partly because the postulated compound was oxidized at a very low rate. Further, work on the oxidation of fatty acids (see Chapter 7) had already established that a 2C fragment like acetate was produced by fatty acid oxidation, en route for carbon dioxide and water. It therefore seemed likely that a similar 2C compound might arise by decarboxylation of pyruvate, and thus condense with oxaloacetate. For some considerable time articles and textbooks referred to this unknown 2C compound as active acetate. ... 

SOME STEPS IN THE TRICARBOXYLIC ACID CYCLE Oxidative Decarboxylation of Pyruvate The Intracellular Function of Vitamin Bj... 

The intermediary metabolism has multienzyme complexes which, in a complex reaction, catalyze the oxidative decarboxylation of 2-oxoacids and the transfer to coenzyme A of the acyl residue produced. NAD" acts as the electron acceptor. In addition, thiamine diphosphate, lipoamide, and FAD are also involved in the reaction. The oxoacid dehydrogenases include a) the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDH, pyruvate acetyl CoA), b) the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (ODH, 2-oxoglutarate succinyl CoA), and c) the branched chain dehydrogenase complex, which is involved in the catabolism of valine, leucine, and isoleucine (see p. 414). 

As a catabolic pathway, it initiates the terminal oxidation of energy substrates. Many catabolic pathways lead to intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, or supply metabolites such as pyruvate and acetyl-CoA that can enter the cycle, where their C atoms are oxidized to CO2. The reducing equivalents (see p. 14) obtained in this way are then used for oxidative phosphorylation—I e., to aerobically synthesize ATP (see p. 122). 

The tricarboxylic acid cycle not only takes up acetyl CoA from fatty acid degradation, but also supplies the material for the biosynthesis of fatty acids and isoprenoids. Acetyl CoA, which is formed in the matrix space of mitochondria by pyruvate dehydrogenase (see p. 134), is not capable of passing through the inner mitochondrial membrane. The acetyl residue is therefore condensed with oxaloacetate by mitochondrial citrate synthase to form citrate. This then leaves the mitochondria by antiport with malate (right see p. 212). In the cytoplasm, it is cleaved again by ATP-dependent citrate lyase [4] into acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate. The oxaloacetate formed is reduced by a cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase to malate [2], which then returns to the mitochondrion via the antiport already mentioned. Alternatively, the malate can be oxidized by malic enzyme" [5], with decarboxylation, to pyruvate. The NADPH+H formed in this process is also used for fatty acid biosynthesis. 

In the last step, pyruvate kinase transfers this residue to ADP. The remaining enol pyruvate is immediately rearranged into pyruvate, which is much more stable. Along with step [7] and the thiokinase reaction in the tricarboxylic acid cycle (see p. 136), the pyruvate kinase reaction is one of the three reactions in animal metabolism that are able to produce ATP independently of the respiratory chain. 

Mitochondria are also described as being the cell s biochemical powerhouse, since—through oxidative phosphorylation (see p. 112)—they produce the majority of cellular ATP. Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), the tricarboxylic acid cycle, p-oxidation of fatty acids, and parts of the urea cycle are located in the matrix. The respiratory chain, ATP synthesis, and enzymes involved in heme biosynthesis (see p. 192) are associated with the inner membrane. 

Schweizer, O., Howland, W. S., Sullivan, C., and Vertes, E., The effect of ether and halothane on blood levels of glucose, pyruvate, lactate and metabolites of the tricarboxylic acid cycle in normotensive patients during operation. Anes-thesiology 28, 814-822 (1967). 

Oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate by pyruvate dehydrogenase complex is an important pathway in tissues with a high oxidative capacity, such as cardiac muscle (Figure 8.24). Pyruvate dehydrogenase irreversibly converts pyruvate, the end product of glycolysis, into acetyl CoA, a major fuel for the tricarboxylic acid cycle (see p. 107) and the building block for fatty acid synthesis (see p. 181). 

Alternate fates of pyruvate Compounds other than lactate to which pyruvate can be converted ALTERNATE FATES OF PYRUVATE (p. 103) Pyruvate can be oxidatively decarboxylated by pyruvate dehydrogenase, producing acetyl CoA—a major fuel for the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle) and the building block for fatty acid synthesis. Pyruvate can be carboxylated to oxaloacetate (a TCA cycle intermediate) by pyruvate carboxylase. Pyruvate can be reduced by microorganisms to ethanol by pyruvate decarboxylase. 

Reactions of the TCA cycle Enzyme that oxidatively decarboxylates pyruvate, its coenzymes, activators, and inhibitors REACTIONS OF THE TRICARBOXYLIC ACID CYCLE (p. 107) Pyruvate is oxidatively decarboxylated by pyruvate dehydrogenase complex producing acetyl CoA, which is the major fuel for the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle). The irreversible set of reactions catalyzed by this enzyme complex requires five coenzymes thiamine pyrophosphate, lipoic acid, coenzyme A (which contains the vitamin pantothenic acid), FAD, and NAD. The reaction is activated by NAD, coenzyme A, and pyruvate, and inhibited by ATP, acetyl CoA, and NADH. 

Catabolism of amino acids usually entails their conversion to intermediates in the central metabolic pathways. All amino acids can be degraded to carbon dioxide and water by appropriate enzyme systems. In every case, the pathways involve the formation, directly or indirectly, of a dicarboxylic acid intermediate of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, of pyruvate, or of acetyl-CoA (fig. 22.11). 

The following sequence will do the task a-ketoglutarate, the tricarboxylic acid cycle to oxaloacetate, to phosphoenolpyruvate, to pyruvate, to acetyl-CoA, into the tricarboxylic acid cycle. 

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