Protein Breakdown (Catabolism) Flashcards
Amino acid catabolism creates ____.
Urea, carbon dioxide, and water
The amino acid pool can be used to make ___.
porphyrins, purines and pyrimidines, nitric oxide, mealnin, creatine, hormones and neurotransmitters
The stomach secretes ____.
HCl and Pepsinogen
HCl is secreted by ___.
parietal cells in the stomach
Acholrhydria can cause ____.
Iron deficiency
Pepsinogen is secreted by ___.
Chief cells in the stomach.
How does pepsinogen function?
Autocatalytic activation occurs by a conformational change at lower pH. (Goes from pepsinogen to pepsin.) Pepsinogen acts as an endopeptidase, cleaving peptide bonds (prefers CO group provided by an aromatic or acidic amino acid).
Smaller peptides and some free amino acids are produced.
The pancreas produces ___.
Trypsinogen, chymotripsinogen, proelastase, procaboxypeptidase
What zymogens are activated by trypsin?
Chymotripsinogen –> chymotrypsin,
Preoelastase —> elastase,
Procarboxypeptidases –> carboxypeptidase A or B (exopeptidase)
What enzyme activates trypsinogen?
Enteropeptidase activates trypsinogen by proteolysis into trypsin
Zymogens are activated by ___.
proteolysis
Amino acids are absorbed by semi-specific ___ transport proteins
sodium
There are at least ___ types of carriers for amino acids.
Six
Hartnup and cystinuria are caused by ___.
defects of sodium transport proteins (for amino acid transport)
Hartnup diease
Autosomal recessive gene that presents with ataxia, emotional instability and pellagra rash caused by a mutation in the sodium-dependent and chloride-independent neutral amino acid transporter, expressed predominately in the intestine and kidneys.
Also called amidoaciduria?
Urine levels of neutral aa are high due to failure to reabsorb amino acids in kidney.
Tryptophan is a precursor for niacin synthesis and most symptoms of hartnup are believed to be niacin deficiency related
Affects Neutral amino acid transport
Cystinuria
It affect dibasic amino acid transport and the transport of cytstine. Cystine stones appear in the bladder and kidney
What carries out intracellular proteolysis?
Lysosomes (acid hydrolases, pH 5 is optimal) and the 26S proteasome in the cytosol (for poly-ubiquitin-tagged proteins)
What carries out extracellular proteolysis?
Serine proteases (elastase from neutrophils contributes to lung damage in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and matrix metalloproteases (collagenases)
What is a byproduct of amino acid breakdown?
Ammonium (NH4+)
What amino acids are used to transport nitrogen in the blood?
Alanine and glutamine
Where does ammonium detoxification occur?
In the liver. (It is the only organ with all the enzymes for urea synthesis.)
Ammonium is converted to ___ because of these properties: ___.
urea,
It is soluble and not charged
____ should be obtained for any chile with unexplained vomiting, lethargy, or other evidence of an encephalopathy.
A plasma ammonia level
Ammonia is very toxic to the ___. It is converted to two nontoxic compounds: _____ and ____.
CNS,
Urea and glutamine
What reactions are involved in the first step of amino acid catabolism?
Removal of the amino groups through transamination or deamination
Transamination
moves amino groups into glutamate (either use or deaminate, releasing ammonium ion)
carried out by aminotransferase
Aminotransferase reactions require pyridoxal phosphate
Deamination
Direct release of ammonium ion, different methods for different amino acids:
glutamate dehydrogenase, hydrolytic deamination (e.g. glutaminase), non-oxidative (PLP dependent)
What does aminotransferase do?
It catalyzes the transfer of an alpha-amino group from an amino acid to an alpha-ketoacid (uses PLP)
What is an example of an aminotransferase?
Aspartate aminotranferase (converts aspartate and alpha-ketoglutarate to oxaloacetate and glutamate) or alanine aminotransferase (converts alanine and alpha-ketolglutarate to pyruvate and glutamate) are listed