Amino Acid Metabolism Flashcards
Nitrogen cycle
Nitrifying bacteria
oxidize NH4+ to NO3 provides energy for these microbes
Denitrifying bacteria
use NO2 as electron accepts instead of O2
Nitrogen fixing bacteria
reduce N2 to NH4+ as part of symbiosis with plants
Reactions that assimilate NH3+
Carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase I
Glutamate dehydrogenase
Glutamine synthetase
Carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase I
Ammonium is converted to carbamoyl-phosphate using 2 ATPs
2 versions of enzyme, one in cytosol and one in mitochondria
Glutamate dehydrogenase
Reductive amination of alpha-ketoglutarate to form glutamate
Glutamine sythetase
ATP-dependent
Amidation of gamma-carboxyl of glutamate to glutamine
Principle route to glutamine
GDH/GS in organisms rich in N
Secondary route to glutamine
GS/GOGAT in organisms confronting N limitation
Glutamine Synthetase (GS)
Glutamine is the key nitrogen donor
2 step reaction
Highly regulated
GS regulation
cumulative feedback
covalent modification
adenylyl transferase
PII (regulated by uridylyl transferase)
Alpha-ketoglutarate family amino acids
glutamate
glutamine
proline
arginine
lysine
Aspartate family amino acids
aspartate
asparagine
methionine
threonine
isoleucine
lysine
Pyruvate family amino acids
alanine
valine
leucine