Bioenergetics Flashcards
What are the products of TCA cycle?
2 GTP, 2 FADH2, 6 NADH
Where does TCA cycle occur in the cell?
mitochondria
What are the 3 energy nutrients that acetyl CoA is obtained from?
- carbohydrates: glucose is oxidized to pyruvate within gylcolysis, pyruvate is decarboxylated by pyruvate dehydrogenase to generate acetyl CoA
- lipids: triacyglycerols are degraded to fatty acids, which are broken down into acetyl CoA via β-oxidation
- proteins: broken down into AA’s, 7 of which undergo variety of rxn to form acetyl CoA
What are the 2 purely ketogenic amino acids?
leucine and lysine
What are the 5 amino acids that are both glucogenic and ketogenic?
phenylalanine, isoleucine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine
During a fasting/starvation situation, why can’t acetyl CoA be oxidized through the TCA cycle?
The other substrate needed for TCA cycle, oxaloacetate, is committed to gluconeogenesis during times of fasting/starvation. Acetyl CoA is therefore converted to ketone bodies by the liver
- within the mitochondria, catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of pyrvuate into CO2 and acetyl CoA with production of NADH
- composed of 3 enzymes: E1 (pyruvate decarboxylase), E2 (dihydrolipoyl transacetylase), and E3 (dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase)
- has 5 coenzymes: TPP, CoA, lipoic acid, FAD, and NAD+
- dephospho active, phospho inactive
- phospho occyrs in coenzyme TPP of E1 complex
pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC)
What is the regulation of PDC?
- activated: substrates and low energy signals (e.g. elevated NAD+, ADP, CoA, pyruvate, insulin)
- inactivated: end products and high energy signals (e.g. elevated NADH, ATP, acetyl CoA, arsenite)
What are the 5 coenzymes associated with PDC and what vitamins are they derived from?
- thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), B1 (thiamine)
- coenzyme A (CoA), B5 (pantothenic acid)
- lipoic acid
- flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), B2 (riboflavin)
- nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), B3 (niacin)
What is the role of PDC in tissues?
- skeletal muscle: Ca2+ released during muscle contraction stimulates PDC by binding to PDP
- cardiac muscle: Ca2+ inhibits PDK, activating PDC; stimulation of PDC by catecholamines (e.g. epinephrine) is mediated by Ca2+
- adipose tissue: insulin may activate PDC by lowering Km for Mg2+
- nutritional deficiency of vitamin B1
- leads to increased levels of pyruvate and α-ketoglutarate due to impaired PDC and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (require thiamine pyrophosphate)
- dry form: damages nerves and can lead to decreased muscle strength, muscle paralysis
- wet form: affects cardiac and circ system, can cause heart failure
- diagnosed by measuring blood levels of thiamine
- rare in Western world, commonly seen in alcoholics because ethanol inhibits thiamine absorption
- sx: weight loss, SOB, difficulty ambulating, confusion, speech difficulties, pain, involuntary eye movements, peripheral neuropathy
- tx: thiamine supplementation with other vitamins
Beriberi and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome
- condition in male infants due to defects in PDC, especially E1
- gene for E1 located on X chromosome
- infants show high levels of pyruvate and lactate
- tx: lactate levels normalized by vitamin B1, lipoic acid, and biotin; lipoic acid stimulates overal PDC; biotin metabolizes pyruvate via pyruvate carboxylase; dichloroacetate inhibits PDK and activates PDC; ketogenic diet and avoidance of alanine minimizes pyruvate formation and generates acetyl CoA by bypassing PDC
pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency (neonatal lactic acidosis) LO1B
How is arsenite a suicide inhibitor of lipoic acid (E2 subunit of PDC)? LO1C
- arsenite links to lipoic acid’s 2 sulfhydryl (SH) groups irreversibly
- limits the avalability of lipoic acid
- affects PDC and all enzymes that use lipoic acid coenzyme (α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, α-keto acid dehydrogenase)
- arsenic is slow poison, takes time to affect enough enzymes, can be detected in hair
What are the products of 1 turn of TCA cycle?
- 1 oxaloacetate
- 2 CO2
- 3 NADH (generates 3 ATP each)
- 1 FADH2 (generates 2 ATP each)
- 1 GTP (generates 1 ATP each)
- 12 ATP equivalents generated by 1 molecule of acetyl CoA within 1 turn of TCA cycle
What are the 3 regulation steps in TCA cycle (irreversible reactions)?
- condensation of acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate to form citrate (citrate synthase)
- isocitrate to α-ketoglutarate (isocitrate dehydrogenase), yields 1 NADH
- α-ketoglutarate to succinyl-CoA (α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase), yields 1 NADH
What are the regulations on citrate synthase?
- activators: acetyl CoA, insulin, oxaloacetate
- inhibitors: ATP, citrate, NADH, succinyl CoA
What is the rate limiting step of TCA cycle?
oxidation and decarboxylation of isocitrate to α-ketoglutarate by isocitrate dehydrogenase
What are the regulations on isocitrate dehydrogenase?
- activators: ADP (allosteric), Ca2+
- inhibitors: ATP, NADH
What are the regulations on α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase?
- activators: Ca2+
- inhibitors: ATP, arsenite, GTP, NADH, succinyl CoA
What are the different effects of citrate on rate limiting enzymes? LO2A
- high conc of citrate in a cell are indicative of ATP-rich state
- citrate allosterically inhibits PFK-1, to limit further catabolism of glucose
- citrate allosterically activates acetyl CoA carboxylase to encourage fatty acid synthesis
- citrate promotes storage of excess energy as fat
What are the 5 steps within TCA cycle that generate high-energy equivalent substances?
- isocitrate to α-ketoglutarate (isocitrate dehydrogenase), generates NADH
- α-ketoglutarate to succinyl-CoA (α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase), generates NADH
- succinyl-CoA to succinate (succinate thiokinase), generates GTP
- succinate to fumarate (succinate dehydrogenase), generates FADH2
- malate to oxaloacetate (malate dehydrogenase), generates NADH
- only TCA cycle enzyme that is bound to inner mitochondrial membrane
- only TCA cycle enzyme that generates FADH2
- also called complex II because it is a component of ETC, where if transfers electrons from FADH2 to coenzyme Q
- inhibited by malonate (competitive inhibitor)
succinate dehydrogenase
Explain the ATP:ADP and NADH:NAD+ ratios of a cell: (LO2B)
- the ATP:ADP ratio is high in energy rich cells and vice versa
- reducing power of a cell, NADH:NAD+, represents potential energy and varies inversely with ATP:ADP ratio
- when cellular ATP levels are low, TCA cycle activity is increased to provide more NADH as substrate for ox phos to generate more ATP
- when ATP levels are high, TCA cycle and ox phos are inhibited
- energy charge of cell is strictly regulated in narrow range of 0.8 to 0.95
What is the role of succinyl CoA in heme synthesis? LO2D
- condensation and decarboxylation of succinyl CoA and amino acid glycine, generates δ-aminolevulinic acid (δ-ALA), which is the first step in heme biosynthesis
- catalyzed by ALA synthase, rate limiting enzyme of heme biosynthesis, requires pyridoxal phosphate (vitamin B6) as cofactor