Biochem 4 Flashcards
(192 cards)
overview of metabolism
- different organisms use different strats for capturing free energy from their environment and can be classified by their requirement for O2
- mammal nutrition involves intake of macronutrients (proteins, carbs, lipids) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)
- metabolic pathway is a series of enzyme-catalyzed rxns usually located in specific part of cell
- flux of material through a metabolic pathway varies with the activities of the enzymes that catalyze irreversible (or quasi-irreversible) rxns
- flux controlling enzymes are regulated by allosteric mechanisms, covalent modification, substrate cycling, and change in gene expression
- regulates rate of enzyme synthesis, rate of enzyme degradation, modification of enzyme affinity, catalytic activity by small molecules that bind allosterically, interactions with enzymes with each other, subunit interaction
the more enzyme
- the faster the rxn
- regulatory strategy for metabolic pathways
high energy phosphates
- energy storage molecules
- ATP
- phosphodiester linkages
- phosphoanhydride
- one of two major pathway for breakdown and synthesis of protein, lipids and carbs
reducing equivalents
- energy storage molecules
- NAD
- NADP
- when they are reduced they are sources of energy
- one of two major pathway for breakdown and synthesis of protein, lipids and carbs
ATP
- alpha phosphate is linked to the sugar of adenosine through phosphoester bond
- adenine -> the base
- adenosine -> the base with the sugar
- beta and gamma phosphates are linked with phosophoanhydride bonds (very reactive)
catabolism
-breakdown
metabolism for carbohydrates: How do we get the reducing equivalents?
- How do we get the reducing equivalents NAD and NADP and FAD and FMN as well as the high energy phosphate ATP out of catabolism of carbohydrates
- these pathways are not just for breakdown
- there are points of escape that permit us to use these pathways for biosynthetic purposes for other metabolites
- use catabolic pathways to make ATP, reducing equivalents, FAD, FADH2 -> but also for biosynthesis
oxidation
- loss of e-
- most oxidized form of C is CO2
- on its way to getting oxidized to CO2 it gets a double bond, an alcohol, a carbonyl, carboxylic acid intermediates
- important for carbohydrate metabolism
reduction
gain of e-
-most reduced form of C is methane
carbohydrate catabolism
- initial metabolic intermediates that are broken down in carbohydrate catabolism are typically reduced forms that have few carbonyls or alcohols -> eventually oxidized to carbonyls and carboxylic acids -> finally CO2
- metabolites are water soluble -> bounce around easily in the cytosol
- needs to be regulated to package the rxns in the cytosol and separate from the cytosol (organelles like mitochondria)
- initial breakdown of carbohydrates like glucose takes place in cytosol
compartmentalization
- important regulatory strategy for metabolism
- capturing energy for carbohydrate metabolism takes place in mitochondria
- mitochondria is a catabolic organ
anabolic or synthetic rxns
-occur in the cytosol
cytosol
-how does the cytosol know whether to use the rxn pathways to breakdown or synthesize ?
heme
-hemoglobin has a need for heme to hold to iron in its reduced form
Synthetic pathway:
-1st step- rate limiting step of the heme biosynthetic pathway
-that enzyme is regulated -> if its not being used it is rapidly broken down -> enzyme is constantly being synthesized and broken down
-extreme regulation for heme synthesis
allosteric regulation
- regulates metabolism
- small molecules, coenzymes, or proteins that allosterically modify activity of enzymes
covalent modifications of enzymes
-phosphorylate or dephosphorylate enzymes that critical to pathways
rate of rxn depends on concentration of substrates
- not always the best method
- when substrate concentration exceeds the dissociation constant for the substrate from the enzyme then the rxn becomes 0th order with respect to substrate concentration
- rate is more sensitive to concentration at low concentrations
- chemical kinetics: frequency of substrate meeting the enzyme matters
- rate becomes insensitive at high substrate concentrations
- enzyme is nearly saturated with substrate
rate of rxn depends on concentration of substrates: blood glucose example: hexokinase
- 2 enzymes involved in trapping glucose in cells
- glucokinase- find in liver cells
- hexokinase- found everywhere else
- glucose gets phosphorylated and becomes glucose 6 phosphate
- Km for hexokinase is on the order of 120th of the blood glucose concentration -> as long as glucose can enter the cell through transporters -> rate of conversion of glucose to glucose 6 phosphate is independent of the blood glucose concentration bc physiological normal blood glucose concentrations are 20x the Km of hexokinase
- rate of conversion of glucose to glucose 6 phosphate is determined by the levels of hexokinase
- *function of hexokinase is not simply to phosphorylate glucose -> it is to trap glucose inside cells (due to a neg charge)
- it will trap glucose at a rate that is independent of blood glucose concentration
rate of rxn depends on concentration of substrates: blood glucose example: glucokinase
- 2 enzymes involved in trapping glucose in cells
- glucokinase- find in liver cells
- hexokinase- found everywhere else
- liver is heavy lifting organ when it comes to regulation of metabolism
- *glucokinase is capable of regulating the substrate level of blood glucose level bc it works more rapidly when blood glucose exceed Km and less rapidly when they are below Km
- glucokinase Km is twice the glucose blood concentration -> glucokinase having glucose bound is very dependent on the blood glucose concentration bc the Km is right around the Km for blood glucose
- glucokinase will phosphorylate more rapidly if the blood concentration goes up and less rapidly if the blood glucose goes down
- liver is sacrificial -> even if it might need glucose for its own metabolism it wont extract it out of the blood if blood glucose is low but it will if blood glucose is high and store it as a polymer (glycogen)
rates of a biochemical rxn
- depends on:
- concentration of reactant vs product
- activity of the catalyst (concentration of the enzyme -> rate of translation versus rate of degradation, intrinsic activity of the enzyme -> could depend on substrate, effectors, or phosphorylation state)
- concentration of effectors (allosteric regulators, competing substrates, pH, ionic environment)
- temperature
metabolic pathways
- many metabolic rxns are catalyzed by enzymes that are functioning more or less at equilibrium -> but there are a couple of steps that are virtually irreversible (ΔG«0) -> committed steps
- committed steps determine the directionality of the pathway
- steps that are highly regulated
- catabolism and anabolism are controlled differentially -> keep products in different compartments in the cell, allows both to be virtually irreversible, independent control of each (can occur at same time)
reactions far from equilibrium are common points of regulation
- when a rxn is near equilibrium typically that rxn is unregulated
- enzyme involved is function with no significant modulation either through allosteric mechanisms or substrate concentrations
- these enzymes are simply functioning as good catalysts
- if rxn is function far from equilibrium -> regulatory mechanisms kick in
- to maintain steady state, all enzymes operate at the same rate
- good catalysts (function near equilibrium)- aldolase, triose phosphate isomerase, phosphoglycerate mutase, enolase, pyruvate kinase, phosphoglucose ismoerase, glucose-6-phosphate, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase + phosphoglycerate
- regulatory (function far from equilibrium)- hexokinase, PFK-1, pyruvate kinase, pyruvate carboxylase + PEP
vitamins treat diseases- B vitamins
- small molecules that are cofactors for the enzymatic rxns -> vitamins (catabolic or anabolic)
- nicotinamide (niacinamide) -> B3 -> important for reduction rxn -> NAD and NADP
- nicotinic acid (niacin)
- some can be made within human body (low concentration)
- thiamine- B1 -> part of the cofactor thiamine pyrophosphate -> important for carbonyl carbon rxns
- redox compounds- FAD and FMN contain the riboflavin (B2)
- pantothenic acid- B5 -> transport cofactor -> coenzyme A -> moves metabolites between the cytosol and mitochondria
- B vitamins are water soluble
fat soluble vitamins
- lipid rxns
- involved in rxns hat involve fat soluble membranes
- vitamin A- Vision -> night blindness
- vitamin D- Ca2+ absorption -> rickets
- vitamin E- antioxidant
- vitamin K- blood clotting -> hemorrhage