Vitamin carboxylase

FIGURE 18.40 The glutamyl carboxylase reaction is vitamin K-dependent. This enzyme activity is essential for the formation of 7-car-boxyglutamyl residues in several proteins of the blood-clotting cascade (Figure 15.5), accounting for the vitamin K dependence of coagulation. 

Scheme 10.24 Reaction catalyzed by vitamin K-dependent glutamate carboxylase.

Vitamin K carboxylase is a transmembraneous protein in the lipid bilayer of the endoplasmatic reticulum (ER). It is highly glycosilated and its C-terminal is on the luminal side of the membrane. Besides its function as carboxylase it takes part as an epoxidase in the vitamin K cycle (Fig. 1). For the binding of the y-carboxylase the vitamin K-dependent proteins have highly conserved special recognition sites. Most vitamin K-dependent proteins are carboxy-lated in the liver and in osteoblasts, but also other tissues might be involved, e.g., muscles. 

Vitamin K A cofactor for the carboxylase of the hepatic endoplasmic reticulum, which is responsible for completing the synthesis of blood-clotting proteins. 

Mitochondrial pyruvate carboxylase catalyzes the cat-boxylation of pymvate to oxaloacetate, an ATP-tequit-ing reaction in which the vitamin biotin is the coenzyme. Biotin binds CO2 from bicatbonate as carboxybiotin ptiot to the addition of the COj to pym-... 

Bicarbonate as a source of CO2 is required in the initial reaction for the carboxylation of acetyl-CoA to mal-onyl-CoA in the presence of ATP and acetyl-CoA carboxylase. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase has a requirement for the vitamin biotin (Figure 21-1). The enzyme is a multienzyme protein containing a variable number of identical subunits, each containing biotin, biotin carboxylase, biotin carboxyl carrier protein, and transcarboxylase, as well as a regulatory allosteric site. The reaction takes place in two steps (1) carboxylation of biotin involving ATP and (2) transfer of the carboxyl to acetyl-CoA to form malonyl-CoA. 

Vitamin E (tocopherol) is the most important antioxidant in the body, acting in the lipid phase of membranes and protecting against the effects of free radicals. Vitamin K functions as cofactor to a carboxylase that acts on glutamate residues of clotting factor precursor proteins to enable them to chelate calcium. 

Carboxylation of propionyl-CoA is accomplished by propionyl-CoA carboxylase (biotin, which is the carboxyl group carrier, serves as a coenzyme for this enzyme) the presence of ATP is also required. The methylmalonyl-CoA formed is converted by methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (whose coenzyme, deoxyadenosylcobalamin, is a derivative of vitamin B]2) to succinyl-CoA the latter enters the Krebs cycle. 

Odd-chain fatty acids are an exception. While they are relatively rare in the diet, odd-chain-length fatty acids end up at propionyl-CoA (C3). Propionyl-CoA is carboxylated by propionyl-CoA carboxylase to give methylmalonyl-CoA. Methylmalonyl-CoA is rearranged to succinyl-CoA by the enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase, a vitamin-B12-requiring enzyme. 

The way in which thiamine participated in the oxidation of pyruvate became clearer when Lohmann and Schuster (1937) showed vitamin Bj to be present intracellularly as thiamine pyrophosphate. In yeast, decarboxylation of pyruvate yielded ethanal which was reduced by alcohol dehydrogenase to give ethanol. A cofactor was needed for this decarboxylation, co-carboxylase. Like the cofactor needed in animal cells for the decarboxylation of pyruvate, cocarboxylase was found to be identical to thiamine pyrophosphate. Vitamin Bj thus became the first vitamin whose intracellular function as a coenzyme had been established in vitro. Another aphorism therefore arose about vitamins—B vitamins are (parts of) coenzymes—an idea that was to be completely confirmed. 

Vitamin K is a component of the carboxylase enzyme that carboxylates the amino acid glutamate in proteins to form y-carboxyglutamate, which binds calcium ions i.e. it catalyses a post-transcriptional modification. Proteins so carboxylated include clotting factors (Factors 11, Vll, IX, and X) and two proteins in bone oesteocalcin (known as matrix-gln-protein) and bone gin protein (BGP). The... 

Vitamin K (phylloquinone) and similar substances with modified side chains are involved in carboxylating glutamate residues of coagulation factors in the liver (see p. 290). The form that acts as a cofactor for carboxylase is derived from the vitamin by enzymatic reduction. Vitamin K antagonists (e. g., coumarin derivatives) inhibit this reduction and consequently carboxylation as well. This fact is used to inhibit blood coagulation in prophylactic treatment against thrombosis. Vitamin K deficiency occurs only rarely, as the vitamin is formed by bacteria of the intestinal flora. 

Vitamin H (biotin) is present in liver, egg yolk, and other foods it is also synthesized by the intestinal flora. In the body, biotin is covalently attached via a lysine side chain to enzymes that catalyze carboxylation reactions. Biotin-dependent carboxylases include pyruvate carboxylase (see p. 154) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (see p. 162). CO2 binds, using up ATP, to one of the two N atoms of biotin, from which it is transferred to the acceptor (see p. 108). 

VISCOSITY COEFFICIENT VITAMIN A GROUP VITAMIN D GROUP VITAMIN D 25-HYDROXYLASE VITAMIN K-DEPENDENT y-GLUTAMYL CARBOXYLASE... 

The answer is B. While all of the listed conditions are consistent with lethargy and developmental defects, the lactic acidosis rules out pyruvate kinase deficiency. Thiamine and niacin deficiencies are unlikely due to the lack of effect of vitamin supplementation. Excess pyruvate is the source of the elevated alanine in the serum. The clinical findings are thus consistent with pyruvate carboxylase deficiency, which is associated with severe hypoglycemia due to fasting due to impaired gluconeogenesis. 

Suttie JW. Vitamin -dependent carboxylase. Annu RevBiochem 1985 54 459- 477. 

Biotinidase (EC 3.5.1.12) is required for the recycling of biotin and for the utilization of protein bound biotin from the diet. Biotin (vitamin H) functions as a prosthetic group of four carboxylases in man the mitochondrial propionyl-CoA carboxylase,... 

Vermeer, C. (1990) y-Carboxyglutamate-containing proteins and the vitamin K-dependent carboxylase. Biochem. J. 266, 625-636. Describes the biochemical basis for the requirement of vitamin K in blood clotting and the importance of carboxylation in the synthesis of the blood-clotting protein thrombin. 

The pyruvate carboxylase reaction requires the vitamin biotin (Fig. 16-16), which is the prosthetic group of the enzyme. Biotin plays a key role in many carboxyla-tion reactions. It is a specialized carrier of one-carbon groups in their most oxidized form C02. (The transfer of one-carbon groups in more reduced forms is mediated by other cofactors, notably tetrahydrofolate and 5-adenosylmethionine, as described in Chapter 18.)... 

Propionyl-CoA is first carboxylated to form the d stereoisomer of methylmalonyl-CoA (Pig. 17—11) by propionyl-CoA carboxylase, which contains the cofactor biotin. In this enzymatic reaction, as in the pyruvate carboxylase reaction (see Pig. 16-16), C02 (or its hydrated ion, HCO ) is activated by attachment to biotin before its transfer to the substrate, in this case the propionate moiety. Formation of the carboxybiotin intermediate requires energy, which is provided by the cleavage of ATP to ADP and Pi- The D-methylmalonyl-CoA thus formed is enzymatically epimerized to its l stereoisomer by methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase (Pig. 17-11). The L-methylmal onyl -CoA then undergoes an intramolecular rearrangement to form succinyl-CoA, which can enter the citric acid cycle. This rearrangement is catalyzed by methylmalonyl-CoA mutase, which requires as its coenzyme 5 -deoxyadenosyl-cobalamin, or coenzyme Bi2, which is derived from vitamin B12 (cobalamin). Box 17—2 describes the role of coenzyme B12 in this remarkable exchange reaction. 

Some enzymes associate with a nonprotein cofactor that is needed for enzymic activity. Commonly encountered cofactors include metal ions such as Zn2+ or Fe2+, and organic molecules, known as coenzymes, that are often derivatives of vitamins. For example, the coenzyme NAD+contains niacin, FAD contains riboflavin, and coenzyme A contains pantothenic acid. (See pp. 371-379 for the role of vitamins as precursors of coenzymes.) Holoenzyme refers to the enzyme with its cofactor. Apoenzyme refers to the protein portion of the holoenzyme. In the absence of the appropriate cofactor, the apoenzyme typically does not show biologic activity. A prosthetic group is a tightly bound coenzyme that does not dissociate from the enzyme (for example, the biotin bound to carboxylases, see p. 379). 

The energy for the carbon-to-carbon condensations in fatty acid synthesis is supplied by the process of carboxylation and then decarboxylation of acetyl groups in the cytosol. The carboxylation of acetyl CcA to form malonyl CoA is catalyzed by acetyl CoA carboxylase (Figure 16.7), and requires HC03 )and ATP. The coenzyme is the vitamin, biotin, which is covalently bound to a lysyl residue of the carboxylase. 

All enzymes exhibit various features that could conceivably be elements in the regulation of their activity in cells. All have a characteristic pH optimum which makes it possible for their catalytic rates to be altered by changes in intracellular pH (e.g. in ribulose diphosphate carboxylase(l7>). The activities also depend on the concentration of substrates, which may vary according to intracellular conditions. Moreover, many require metal ions or vitamins, and the activity of enzymes may be a function of the concentrations in which such materials are present (e.g. the effect of iron limitation on the citric acid fermentation of Aspergillus niger ). However, over and above these factors, some enzymes have other properties that... 

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