Carbohydrates, Lipids, Terminal Respiration, Nitrogen Flashcards
What is the function of the citric acid cycle?
- Common metabolic pathway for all food molecules (carbohydrates, fatty acids and amino acids)
- Produces large amounts of ATP
- Removes electrons from intermediate molecules and passes on to form NADH and FADH2.
What is the products of the citric acid cycle?
Large amounts of ATP, 4CO2 and 4H2O, NADH and FADH2
What molecule is central to the citric acid cycle?
Acetyl CoA
What molecules are found at the start and end of the citric acid cycle?
Citrate (C6) to oxaloacetate (C4)
Where does the citric acid cycle occur?
In the mitochondrial matrix.
Some NADH is in the cytoplasm from glycolysis and needs to be in the mitochondrial matrix. What resolves this issue?
The glycerol-phosphate shuttle, G-3-P
Where does NADH and FADH2 enter the terminal respiration chain?
NADH = first subunit FADH2 = Second sub-unit
How many enzymes are found in the terminal respiration chain?
4 enzyme sub-units
Where is the ubiquinone (Q) carrier located?
Between enzyme II and III.
What is the name of the molecule that transports electrons between complexes III and IV of the electron transport chain?
Cytochrome C
ATPase utilises which mechanism in order to generate ATP?
Binding-change mechanism
Describe how the ATP synthase functions.
Molecular turbine harness energy in the proton gradient (created from the proton motive force) which flow back down gradient into matrix. The energy is stored and the gradient is used to convert ADP and Pi to ATP.
What sub-unit of the ATP synthase does ADP and Pi enter?
Beta subunit
What are the names of the two parts of the ATP synthase?
F0 in membrane
F1 in matrix (catalyst, produces ATP)
What is the function of the ATP synthase?
Pumps in H+ ions into the matrix to form ATP.
What is the function of O2 in terminal respiration?
Acts as the final electron acceptor at enzyme IV to be re-oxidised to H2O.
Monomers of carbohydrates are linked together by what type of bonds?
Glycosidic
Catabolism of 1 mol of glucose to lactate generates how many net moles of ATP?
2 moles
Ingesting alcohol reduces which intermediate, particularly in the liver?
NAD+
What vitamin is not derived from a lipid?
Vitamin C
What vitamins are derived from lipids?
Vitamin A, D, E and K
Excess acetyl CoA from fatty acids gives rise to the formation of what?
Ketones
Which amino acid is central to nitrogen entering the body?
Glutamate
Which cycle is important in nitrogen metabolism?
Glucose-Alanine cycle
What are the main nitrogen containing molecules of the body.
Proteins, nucleic acids and nucleotides, biologically active amines and ahem-containing molecules.
What is the fate of dietary proteins?
Digested to AAs and then used in anabolic pathways
What happens to excess dietary proteins?
Proteins surplus to requirements are catabolised.
Describe the process of protein catabolism.
Amino acids converted to NH4+ of carbon skeletons.
- NH4+ enter urea cycle and produce urea (nitrogen excretion product)
- Carbon skeletons - form alpha-veto acid and enter citric acid cycle to produce glucose for gluconeogenesis, CO2, H2O and ATP.
How is the urea cycle linked with citric acid cycle?
Aspartate-arginine shunt
What are the sources of a steady state of amino acids?
- Digestion of dietary proteins in intestine
2. Degradation of intracellular proteins
How are dietary proteins digested?
- Enzymatically hydrolysed by peptidases in stomach.
- Trypsin and chymotrypsin (release by pancreas to SI) cut proteins into small peptides
- Aminopeptidase and carboxypeptidases A and B degrade peptides to AAs in small intestine.
What is the function of proteases?
Recognise sequence and cleave, produced in Zymogen form until activated.
Describe the role of glutamate in the transfer of nitrogen.
Only AA that can obtain nitrogen directly from NH4 and the only one that can give up nitrogen directly.
What would happen if glutamate did not exist?
Can’t convert N2 to AAs.
What enzyme is involved in the transamination process?
Aminotransferase
Describe the process of transamination.
Transfer of NH4 by glutamate to other amino acids.
What is the general principle of transamination?
- No loss of gain of N2.
- AA1 + ketoacid 2 to ketoacid 1 + AA2 ( readily reversible process.
- alpha- ketoglutarate also involved
Where is excess glutamate metabolised?
In mitochondria of hepatocytes.
Body protein undergoes constant turnover. True or false?
True
How is nitrogen transported through plasma to liver?
- Glutamine (transports ammonia in blood stream)
- Alanine (glutamate donates ammonia to pyruvate to make alanine)
* Glutamate, alpha-ketogluturate and pyruvate, alanine shuttle occur in muscles and liver).
In the urea cycle, what goes in and what goes out?
Ammonia in and urea out.
How is urea formed?
Nitrogen excreted as ammonia and converted to urea in urea cycle.
What is the function of glutaminase?
Removes nitrogen from glutamine and forms urea in mitochondria.
What are the fates of carbon skeletons?
Converted to glucose or oxidised as part of citric acid cycle ie.
- Glucogenic ( fed into gluconeogenesis)
- Ketogenic (fed into acetoacetate or acetyl CoA)
How many enzymes are in the urea cycle?
Five
How do metabolic defects in the urea cycle give rise to clinical problems?
Wherever there is an enzyme, a clinical disorder can arise e.g most common = ornithine transcarbomylase (OTC) deficiency.
What does OTC cause?
Hyperammonaemia (highly toxic, BBB not protected so medical emergency)
NB: typically presents in newborn period.
What defects in amino acids can exist?
- Decrease enzyme activity
- Decrease product
- Increase precursors
What is PKU?
- absence/deficiency in phenylalanine hydroxyls (PAH)
- autosomal recessive
- increase phenylalanine levels (toxic)
How is PKU diagnosed?
“Guthrie card” (decrease in tyrosine and increase in phenylalanine)
*Phe increases once feeding is established in newborn, day 3-4 = irritability and feeding difficulties arise.
What is the treatment for PKU?
Decrease protein in diet and supplement with tyrosine.
What are the clinical features if untreated?
Impaired brain development, musty odour and neurological features.
Define the major carbohydrates of the diet.
Monosaccharide, Disaccharides and Polysaccharides
Give examples of monosaccharides.
glucose, galactose and fructose
Give examples of disaccharides.
Lactose, maltose and sucrose
Describe the structure of disaccharides.
Formed from two monosaccharides linked by glycosidic bonds (between oH of one monomer and anomeric C of another)
What monosaccharides for lactose?
Glucose and galactose
Give examples of polysaccharides.
Glycogen and starch
Describe the structure of polysaccharides.
- Polymers of medium to high molecular weight composed of long chains of monosaccharides bound by glycosidic bonds.
- Can be linear or highly branched
- Homopolysaccharide or heteropolysaccharide
What is the product of hydrolysed polysaccharides?
Monosaccharides and oligosaccharides
What polysaccharide has the most branches?
Glycogen (branched every 8 residues)
What is starch made of?
2 x glucose monomers which form alpha helices
Describe in outline carbohydrate digestion.
Digestion:
Mouth (amylase) - stomach (no digestion) - duodenum (pancreatic amylase) - jejunum (4 x mucosal cell-surface enzymes) - Glucose, Galactose and Fructose.
What are the four enzymes found in the jejunum?
Isomaltase, glucoamylase, sucrose, lactase
Are alpha1-6 bonds branched or unbranched?
Branched
How is glucose absorbed?
- Na+ drives the process and immediately removed from cell by Na+/K+ pump.
- Glutamate proteins recognise glucose and transport.
- Can move against concentration gradient when blood glucose is high.
Once glucose is absorbed into the blood from the intestinal lumen, where does it travel?
Liver (phosphorylated by hepatocytes into glucose-6-phosphate)
How is galactose absorbed?
Similarly to glucose.
How is fructose absorbed?
Binds to channel protein GLUT5 and moves down concentration gradient from gut lumen to blood.
Describe oligosaccharides and give examples.
They Cann’t be absorbed e.g cellulose and hemicellulose.
Discuss the action of glucokinase.
Phosphorylates glucose and ATP to glucose-6-phosphate and ADP.
Where is glucokinase found?
The liver
Compare Km and Vmax of glucokinase and hexokinase.
Glucokinase = High km and high Vmax Hexokinase = Low Km and Low Vmax
Where is hexokinase found?
In muscle and rest of body.
Discuss the action of hexokinase.
Same as glucokinase (Phosphorylates glucose and ATP to glucose-6-phosphate and ADP
Discuss the mechanism of action of glucokinase.
As substrate concentration increases, increased activity i.e faster turnover.
Discuss the mechanism of action of hexokinase.
Initial reaction faster at lower glucose concentration and will ‘grab’ when concentration increases.
What enzyme responds to varying glucose levels.
Glucokinase