Metabolism of the normal cardiovascular wall. 2. The pentose phosphate pathway.
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When isolated islets of Langerhans are suddenly exposed to glucose, the entry of the hexose into islet cells first occurs at a high rate resulting in rapid equilibration of free glucose across the cell membrane; thereafter, the rate of net glucose uptake depends on its metabolism. More than 95% of the glucose taken up by the islets is converted to triosephosphate. The fractional contribution of the sorbitol and pentose-phosphate pathways to such a process does not exceed 10%. The output of lactate from the islets accounts for approximately half of the glycolytic flux. At increasing glucose concentrations up to 4.3 mM, the rate of glycolysis increases towards a first asymptotic value; at higher glucose levels (up to 27.8 mM), a sigmoidal pattern is seen tending towards a second saturation value. The total ATP content of the islets does not correlate with their insulin-secretory activity. It is suggested that, in the process of glucose-induced insulin release, glycolysis may regulate physiological processes possibly located in the micro-environment of the cell boundary.
The effect of streptozotocin (STZ) on the activity of the pentose phosphate shunt in islets was studied. Isolated rat islets were pre-incubated with glucose (1.7 mM) alone or with streptozotocin (STZ) or N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU). The effects of these pretreatments on glucose metabolism and insulin secretion were assessed during subsequent incubation with either (1.14C), (6.14C). or (U.14C). glucose (16.7 mM) alone or plus phenazine methosulfate (PMS). Islets pretreated with STZ (1.5 mM) metabolized less (1.14C) and (U.14C). glucose. The order of inhibition by STZ of (14C)-glucose metabolism by islets was: (1.14C). greater than (U.14C). greater than (6.14C)-glucose. Whereas PMS (0.5 mM) increased the metabolism of both (U.14C). and (1.14C)-glucose, the metabolism of (6.14C)-glucose by STZ-pretreated islets was not increased by PMS. In a separate series of experiments, the total NADP+ + NADPH, but not the NAD content of the islets decreased after 2 min exposure of islets of STZ. At 30-min exposure, the levels of both pyridine coenzymes and that of 6-phosphogluconate were significantly decreased. The level of NADP+ + NADPH in islets was decreased more than the level of NAD. Insulin secretion was suppressed by the nitrosoureas. PMS (0.5 mM) increased the level of NADP+ + NADPH content of islets and augmented insulin secretion. It is concluded that the pentose phosphate pathway is inhibited on brief exposure of islets to STZ or MNU. Such inhibition may contribute to the suppression of insulin secretion caused by these nitrosoureas.
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The activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (decarboxylating) (PGD) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were found to change by a factor similar to the reported changes in the rate of the pentose phosphate pathway between cells grown in minimal medium and in rich medium. It is suggested that the rate of this pathway is regulated not only by the activity of GPD, a well-known key enzyme, but also by PGD. These two enzymes seem to function in a coordinated fashion.
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The effect of supraoptimal temperature on various glucose metabolism pathways of human kidney cell line was studied. Exposure of cells to 44 degrees C for longer than one hour resulted in decreased activity of the tri-carboxylic-acid (Krebs) cycle, which hardly recovered at 72 hours. The first few steps of the pentose phosphate pathway were found to be much less sensitive to heat treatment than the whole cycle, and continued to be partially active even after a 3-hour exposure to 48 degrees C.
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The biosynthesis of the C5 building block of isoprenoids, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP), proceeds in higher plants via two basically different pathways; in the cytosolic compartment sterols are formed via mevalonate (MVA), whereas in the plastids the isoprenoids are formed via the 1-deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate/2-C-methylerythritol 4-phosphate pathway (DOXP/MEP pathway). In the present investigation, we found for the Charophyceae, being close relatives to land plants, and in the original green flagellate Mesostignma virilde the same IPP biosynthesis pattern as in higher plants: sterols are formed via MVA, and the phytol-moiety of chlorophylls via the DOXP/MEP pathway. In contrast, representatives of four classes of the Chlorophyta (Chlorophyceae, Ulvophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae, Prasinophyceae) did not incorporate MVA into sterols or phytol. Instead, they incorporated [1-2H1]-1-deoxy-D-xylulose into phytol and sterols. The results indicate that the entire Chlorophyta lineage, which is well separated from the land plant/Charophyceae lineage, is devoid of the acetate/ MVA pathway and uses the DOXP/MEP pathway not only for plastidic, but also for cytosolic isoprenoid formation.
In malaria parasites, isoprenoids are synthesised by the mevalonate independent 1-deoxy- D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DOXP) pathway. Fosmidomycin, a natural antibiotic originally developed for the treatment of bacterial infections, represents an inhibitor of DOXP reductoisomerase, an essential enzyme of this pathway. In recent clinical studies it was shown that fosmidomycin is effective in curing uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in humans. The treatment was well tolerated and resulted in a fast parasite and fever clearance. However, the high rate of recrudescence precludes the use of fosmidomycin as a monotherapy. In drug combination studies, synergy of fosmidomycin with clindamycin was observed. Clinical studies with a fosmidomycin-clindamycin combination are currently ongoing.
The gene encoding phosphoketolase, which is 2749 bp long and contains 814 amino acid polypeptides with a total molecular mass of 91.9 kDa, was cloned from Leuconostoc mesenteroides C7 (LMC7) and expressed in Escherichia coli. It exhibited a homology of >58% with phosphoketolases from other lactic acid bacteria. The phosphoketolase of LMC7 belongs to the xylulose 5-phosphate (X5P)/fructose 6-phosphate (F6P) phosphoketolase (Xfp) family, which is an enzyme with dual specificity for X5P and F6P. The members of this family contain typical thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP) binding sites as reported for other TPP-dependent enzymes, and several highly conserved regions as signature patterns for phosphoketolases. The plasmid pGPK containing the Xfp gene (xfp) exhibits phosphoketolase activity in E. coli. The specific activities of the enzyme from E. coli BL21 and E. coli EC101 harboring xfp were 0.28 and 0.14 units/mg, respectively. They both exhibited a 1.5-fold increase in the production of acetic acid from acetyl phosphate compared with their corresponding original strain.
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Radioactive amino acids, when added to isolated pea chloroplasts or chloroplast extracts engaged in protein synthesis, are incorporated into Rubisco large subunits that co-migrate with native Rubisco during nondenaturing electrophoresis. We have added the transition state analog 2'-carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate (CABP) to chloroplast extracts after in organello or in vitro incorporation of radioactive amino acids into Rubisco large subunits. Upon addition of CABP the radioactive bands co-migrating with native Rubisco undergo a readily detected shift in electrophoretic mobility just as the native enzyme, thus demonstrating the ability of the newly assembled molecules to interact with this transition state analog.
14C-Labelled octulose phosphates were formed during photosynthetic 14CO2 fixation and were measured in spinach leaves and chloroplasts. Because mono- and bisphosphates of D: -glycero- D: -ido-octulose are the active 8-carbon ketosugar intermediates of the L-type pentose pathway, it was proposed that they may also be reactants in a modified Calvin-Benson-Bassham pathway reaction scheme. This investigation therefore initially focussed only on the ido-epimer of the octulose phosphates even though 14C-labelled D: -glycero- D: -altro-octulose mono- and bisphosphates were also identified in chloroplasts and leaves. 14CO2 predominantly labelled positions 5 and 6 of D: -glycero- D: -ido-octulose 1,8-P2 consistent with labelling predictions of the modified scheme. The kinetics of 14CO2 incorporation into ido-octulose was similar to its incorporation into some traditional intermediates of the path of carbon, while subsequent exposure to 12CO2 rapidly displaced the 14C isotope label from octulose with the same kinetics of label loss as some of the confirmed Calvin pathway intermediates. This is consistent with octulose phosphates having the role of cyclic intermediates rather than synthesized storage products. (Storage products don't rapidly exchange isotopically labelled carbons with unlabelled CO2.)A spinach chloroplast extract, designated stromal enzyme preparation (SEP), catalysed and was used to measure rates of CO(2) assimilation with Calvin cycle intermediates and octulose and arabinose phosphates. Only pentose (but not arabinose) phosphates and sedoheptulose 7-phosphate supported CO2 fixation at rates in excess of 120 micromol h(-1) mg(-1) Chl. Rates for octulose, sedoheptulose and fructose bisphosphates, octulose, hexose and triose monophosphates were all notably less than the above rate and arabinose 5-phosphate was inactive. Altro-octulose phosphates were more active than phosphate esters of the ido-epimer. The modified scheme proposed a specific phosphotransferase and SEP unequivocally catalysed reversible phosphate transfer between sedoheptulose bisphosphate and D: -glycero- D: -ido-octulose 8-phosphate. It was also initially hypothesized that arabinose 5-phosphate, an L-Type pentose pathway reactant, may have a role in a modified Calvin pathway. Arabinose 5-phosphate is present in spinach chloroplasts and leaves. Radiochromatography showed that 14C-arabinose 5-phosphate with SEP, but only in the presence of an excess of unlabelled ribose 5-phosphate, lightly labelled ribulose 5-phosphate and more heavily labelled hexose and sedoheptulose mono- and bisphosphates. However, failure to demonstrate any CO2 fixation by arabinose 5-phosphate as sole substrate suggested that the above labelling may have no metabolic significance. Despite this arabinose and ribose 5-phosphates are shown to exhibit active roles as enzyme co-factors in transaldolase and aldolase exchange reactions that catalyse the epimeric interconversions of the phosphate esters of ido- and altro-octulose. Arabinose 5-phosphate is presented as playing this role in a New Reaction Scheme for the path of carbon, where it is concluded that slow reacting ido-octulose 1,8 bisphosphate has no role. The more reactive altro-octulose phosphates, which are independent of the need for phosphotransferase processing, are presented as intermediates in the new scheme. Moreover, using the estimates of phosphotransferase activity with altro-octulose monophosphate as substrate allowed calculation of the contributions of the new scheme, that ranged from 11% based on the intact chloroplast carboxylation rate to 80% using the carboxylation rate required for the support of octulose phosphate synthesis and its role in the phosphotransferase reaction.
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