Browsing Pathways

The sphingolipid metabolism pathway depicted here describes the synthesis of sphingolipids which include sphingomyelins, ceramides, phosphoceramides, glucosylceramides, galactosylceramides, sulfagalactosylceramides, lactosylceramides, and various other ceramides. The core of a sphingolipid is the long-chain amino alcohol called sphingosine. Amino acylation, with a long-chain fatty acid, at the 2-carbon position of sphingosine yields a ceramide. Sphingolipids are a component of all membranes but are particularly abundant in the myelin sheath. De novo sphingolipid synthesis begins at the cytoplasmic side of the ER (endoplasmic reticulum) with the formation of 3-keto-dihydrosphingosine (also known as 3-ketosphinganine) by the enzyme known as serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT). The preferred substrates for this reaction are palmitoyl-CoA and serine. Next, 3-keto-dihydrosphingosine is reduced to form dihydrosphingosine (also known as sphinganine) via the enzyme 3-ketodihydrosphingosine reductase (KDHR), which is also known as 3-ketosphinganine reductase. Dihydrosphingosine (sphinganine) is acylated by the action of several dihydroceramide synthases (CerS) to form dihydroceramide. Dihydroceramide is then desaturated in the original palmitic portion of the lipid via dihydroceramide desaturase 1 (DES1) to form ceramide. Following the conversion to ceramide, sphingosine is released via the action of ceramidase. Sphingosine can be re-converted into a ceramide by condensation with an acyl-CoA catalyzed by the various CerS enzymes. Ceramide may be phosphorylated by ceramide kinase to form ceramide-1-phosphate. Alternatively, it may be glycosylated by glucosylceramide synthase (to form a glucosylceramide) or galactosylceramide synthase (to form a galactosylceramide). Additionally, it can be converted to sphingomyelin by the addition of a phosphorylcholine headgroup by sphingomyelin synthase (SMS). Sphingomyelins are the only sphingolipids that are phospholipids. Diacylglycerol is also generated via this process. Alternately, ceramide may be broken down by a ceramidase to form sphingosine. Sphingosine may be phosphorylated to form sphingosine-1-phosphate, which may, in turn, be dephosphorylated to regenerate sphingosine. Sphingolipid catabolism allows the reversion of these metabolites to ceramide. The complex glycosphingolipids are hydrolyzed to glucosylceramide and galactosylceramide. These lipids are then hydrolyzed by beta-glucosidases and beta-galactosidases to regenerate ceramide. Similarly, sphingomyelins may be broken down by sphingomyelinase to create ceramides and phosphocholine. The only route by which sphingolipids are converted into non-sphingolipids is through sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase. This forms ethanolamine phosphate and hexadecenal.

A bile acids life begins as cholesterol is catabolized, as bile acid is a derivative of cholesterol. This pathway occurs in the liver, beginning with cholesterol being converted to 7a-hydroxycholesterol through the enzyme cholesterol-7-alpha-monooxygenase, after being transported into the liver cell. 7a-hydroxycholesterol then becomes 7a-hydroxy-cholestene-3-one, which is made possible by the enzyme 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 7. 7a-hydroxy-cholestene-3-one then is used in two different chains of reactions. The first, continuing in the liver, uses the enzyme 3-oxo-5-beta-steroid-4-deydrogenase to become 7a-hydroxy-5b-cholestan-3-one. After that, aldo-keto reductase family 1 member C4 is used to create 3a,7a-dihydroxy-5b-cholestane. In the mitochondria of the cell, sterol 26-hydroxylase converts 3a,7a-dihydroxy-5b-cholestane to 3a,7a,26-trihydroxy-5b-cholestane, which is then converted to 3a,7a-dihydroxy-5b-cholestan-26-al by the same enzyme used in the previous reaction. This enzyme is used another time, to create 3a,7a-dihydroxycoprostanic acid. Then, bile acyl-CoA synthetase teams up with 3a,7a-dihydroxycoprostanic acid to create 3a,7a-dihydroxy-5b-cholestanoyl-CoA. 3a,7a-dihydroxy-5b-cholestanoyl-CoA remains intact while alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase moves it along through the peroxisome. Peroxisomal acyl coenzyme A oxidase 2 converts 3a,7a-dihydroxy-5b-cholestanoyl-CoA into 3a,7a-dihydoxy-5b-cholest-24-enoyl-CoA. With the help of water, peroxisomal multifunctional enzyme type 2 turns 3a,7a-dihydoxy-5b-cholest-24-enoyl-CoA into 3a,7a,24-trihydoxy-5b-cholestanoyl-CoA. This compound then uses peroxisomal multifunctional enzyme type 2 to create chenodeoxycholoyl-CoA. From there, propionyl-CoA and chenodeoxycholoyl-CoA join forces and enlist the help of non-specific lipid transfer protein to further chenodeoxycholoyl-CoAâ€TMs journey in the peroxisome. It is then transported back into intracellular space, where after its used in 3 different reactions, its derivatives interact with intestinal microflora in the extracellular space to become lithocholyltaurine, lithocholic acid glycine conjugate, and lithocholic acid. Revisiting 7a-hydroxy-cholestene-3-one, the second chain of reactions it is involved in follows a similar path as the first, moving through the mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and peroxisome until choloyl-CoA is formed, which then is used in three reactions so that its derivatives may leave the cell to interact with intestinal microflora and become taurodeoxycholic acid, deoxycholic acid glycine conjugate and deoxycholic acid. There are two more important components of this pathway, both depicting the breakdown of cholesterol into bile acid. These components of the pathway occur in the endoplasmic reticulum membrane, although 2 enzymes, 25-hydroxycholesterol 7-alpha-hydroxylase and sterol 26 hydroxylase, are found in the mitochondria. Bile acids play a very important part in the digestion of foods, and are responsible for the absorption of water soluble vitamins in the small intestine. Bile acids also help absorb fats into the small intestine, a crucial part of any vertebrates diet.

D-Amino acids have been show to be present in high concentrations in humans and play a role in biological functions. D-Amino may have negative effects as they can be found in some bacteria or form spontaneously in certain reactions. D-Amino acid oxidase (DAAO) is one of the main enzymes that metabolize D-Amino acids via deamination. DAAO is highly specific towards D-amino acids and favours free neutral D-amino acids or those with hydrophobic, polar or aromatic groups. Acidic amino acids are not catalyze by DAOO.

The degradation of L-lysine happens in liver and it is consisted of seven reactions. L-Lysine is imported into liver through low affinity cationic amino acid transporter 2 (cationic amino acid transporter 2/SLC7A2). Afterwards, L-lysine is imported into mitochondria via mitochondrial ornithine transporter 2. L-Lysine can also be obtained from biotin metabolism. L-Lysine and oxoglutaric acid will be combined to form saccharopine by facilitation of mitochondrial alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde synthase, and then, mitochondrial alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde synthase will further breaks saccharopine down to allysine and glutamic acid. Allysine will be degraded to form aminoadipic acid through alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde dehydrogenase. Oxoadipic acid is formed from catalyzation of mitochondrial kynurenine/alpha-aminoadipate aminotransferase on aminoadipic acid. Oxoadipic acid will be further catalyzed to form glutaryl-CoA, and glutaryl-CoA converts to crotonoyl-CoA, and crotonoyl-CoA transformed to 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA. 3-Hydroxybutyryl-CoA will form Acetyl-CoA as the final product through the intermediate compound: acetoacetyl-CoA. Acetyl-CoA will undergo citric acid cycle metabolism. Carnitine is another key byproduct of lysine metabolism (not shown in this pathway).

The glycerolipid metabolism pathway describes the synthesis of glycerolipids such as monoacylglycerols (MAGs), diacylglycerols (DAGs), triacylglycerols (TAGs), phosphatidic acids (PAs), and lysophosphatidic acids (LPAs). The process begins with cytoplasmic 3-phosphoglyceric acid (a product of glycolysis). This molecule is dephosphorylated via the enzyme glycerate kinase to produce glyceric acid. Glyceric acid is then transformed to glycerol (via the action of aldehyde dehydrogenase and aldose reductase). The free, cytoplasmic glycerol can then be phosphorylated to glycerol-3-phosphate through the action of glycerol kinase. Glycerol-3-phosphate can then enter the endoplasmic reticulum where glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) may combine various acyl-CoA moieties (which donate acyl groups) to form lysophosphatidic (LPA) or phosphatidic acid (PA). The resulting phosphatidic acids can be dephosphorylated via lipid phosphate phosphohydrolase (also known as phosphatidate phosphatase) to produce diacylglycerols (DAGs). The resulting DAGs can be converted into triacylglycerols (TAGs) via the addition of another acyl group (contributed via acyl-CoA) and the action of 1-acyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase. Extracellularly, the triacylglycerols (TAGs) can be converted to monoacylglycerols (MAGs) through the action of hepatic triacylglycerol lipase. In addition to this cytoplasmic route of glycerolipid synthesis, another route via mitochondrial synthesis also exists. This route begins with glycerol-3-phosphate, which can be either derived from dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP), a product of glycolysis (usually in the cytoplasm of liver or adipose tissue cells) or from glycerol itself. Glycerol-3-phosphate in the mitochondria is first acylated via acyl-coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) through the action of mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase to form lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). Once synthesized, lysophosphatidic acid is then acylated with another molecule of acyl-CoA via the action of 1-acyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acetyltransferase to yield phosphatidic acid. Phosphatidic acid is then dephosphorylated to form diacylglycerol. Specifically, diacylglycerol is formed by the action of phosphatidate phosphatase (also known as lipid phosphate phosphohydrolase) on phosphatidic acid coupled with the release of a phosphate. The phosphatase exists as 3 isozymes. Diacylglycerol is a precursor to triacylglycerol (triglyceride), which is formed in the addition of a third fatty acid to the diacylglycerol by the action of diglyceride acyltransferase. Since diacylglycerol is synthesized via phosphatidic acid, it will usually contain a saturated fatty acid at the C-1 position on the glycerol moiety and an unsaturated fatty acid at the C-2 position. When the body uses stored fat as a source of energy, glycerol and fatty acids are released into the bloodstream. Fatty acids, stored as triglycerides in humans, are an important and a particularly rich source of energy. The energy yield from a gram of fatty acids is approximately 9 kcal/g (39 kJ/g), compared to 4 kcal/g (17 kJ/g) for carbohydrates. Since the hydrocarbon portion of fatty acids is hydrophobic, these molecules can be stored in a relatively anhydrous (water-free) environment. Fatty acids can hold more than six times the amount of energy than sugars on a weight basis. In other words, if you relied on sugars or carbohydrates to store energy, then you would need to carry 67.5 lb (31 kg) of glycogen to have the energy equivalent to 10 lb (5 kg) of fat.

Glycolysis is a metabolic pathway with sequence of ten reactions involving ten intermediate compounds that converts glucose to pyruvate. Glycolysis release free energy for forming high energy compound such as ATP and NADH. Glycolysis is consisted of two phases, which one of them is chemical priming phase and second phase is energy-yielding phase. As the starting compound of chemical priming phase, D-glucose can be obtained from galactose metabolism or imported by monosaccharide-sensing protein 1 from outside of cell. D-Glucose is catalyzed by probable hexokinase-like 2 protein to form glucose 6-phosphate which is powered by ATP. Glucose 6-phosphate transformed to fructose 6-phosphate by glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, which the later compound will be converted to fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, which is the last reaction of chemical priming phase by 6-phosphofructokinase with cofactor magnesium, and it is also powered by ATP. Before entering the second phase, aldolase catalyzing the hydrolysis of F1,6BP into dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. Dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate can convert to each other bidirectionally by facilitation of triosephosphate isomerase. The second phase of glycolysis is yielding-energy phase that produce ATP and NADH. At the first step, D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate is catalyzed to glyceric acid 1,3-biphosphate by glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase with NAD, which also generate NADH. ATP is generated through the reaction that convert glyceric acid 1,3-biphosphate to 3-phosphoglyceric acid. Phosphoglycerate mutase 2 catalyze 3-phosphoglyceric acid to 2-Phospho-D-glyceric acid, and alpha-enolase with cofactor magnesium catalyzes 2-Phospho-D-glyceric acid to phosphoenolpyruvic acid. Eventually, plastidial pyruvate kinase 4 converts phosphoenolpyruvic acid to pyruvate with cofactor magnesium and potassium and ADP. Pyruvate will undergo pyruvate metabolism, tyrosine metabolism and pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis.

This pathway illustrates the conversion of sulfite to sulfate (via sulfate oxidase) and subsequent generation of adenylylsulfate (APS) via 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate synthase 2. APS is converted to phosphoadenylyl-sulfate (PAPS) via adenylylsulfate kinase. APS can also be regenerated from PAPS by 3'(2'), 5'-bisphosphate nucleotidase 1. PAPS is eventually converted to adenosine bisophosphate (PAP) through the action of several different enzymes including aryl sulfotransferase, chondroitin 4-sulfotransferase 13 and estrone sulfotransferase. The metabolism pathway in question is important for many reasons. Recall, that the sulfite ion is in fact the conjugate base of sulfurous acid. Moreover, this ion is found naturally in one of the worlds most popular beverages, wines. Beyond its natural occurence, sulfite ion had the property of stopping fermentation. As such, the addition of it to products such as wine can be used either as a preservative or to stop the fermentation process at a moment which is of interest. Finally, this preservation property goes beyond merely wines, and finds utility in dried fruits, potatoes, etc.

This pathway depicts the conversion of galactose into glucose, lactose, and other sugar intermediates that may be used for a range of metabolic process. Dietary sources of galactose are numerous, but some of the primary sources in the human diet can be found in milk and milk derivative products. This is because during digestion milk sugars and lactose are hydrolyzed into their molecular constituents (e.g. base monosaccharides). In milk, such monosaccharides include glucose and galactose. The metabolism of the sugar Galactose is occurs almost entirely in the liver, and its metabolism is the consequence of three steps or reactions. First, the phosphorylation of galactose is induced by a special enzyme with the predictable name, galactokinase, and produces galactose 1-phosphate. Second, this biproduct and a second molecule, UDP-glucose, undergo a reaction which leads to the formation of UDP-galactose and glucose 1-phosphate. Thus, this reaction produces 1 molecule of glucose 1-phosphate per molecule of galactose. This is mediated by the enzyme galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (GALT). The resulting UDP-galactose undergoes epimerization to form UDP-glucose via the enzyme UDP-galactose-4 epimerase (GALE). The UDP-glucose can be used in glucuronidation reactions and other pentose interconversions. In a reaction shared with other pathways, glucose 1-phosphate can be converted into glucose 6-phosphate. There are other pathways associated with galactose metabolism. For instance, galactose can be converted into UDP-glucose by the sequential activities of GALK, UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase 2 (UGP2), and GALE. Galactose can also be reduced to galactitol by NADPH-dependent aldose reductase. Also shown in this pathway is the conversion of glucose to galactose vis a vis a different process to the ones described earlier. This pathway, called hexoneogenesis, allows mammary glands to produce galactose. It should be noted however, that despite the existence of this pathway of galactose production, the vast majority of galactose in breast milk is actually the result of direct uptake up from the blood, whereas only a small fraction, ~35%, is the result of this de novo process hexoneogenesis. Also depicted in this pathway are the conversions of other dietary di and tri-saccharides (raffinose, manninotriose, melibiose, stachyose) into galactose, glucose and fructose as well as and dietary sugar alcohols (melibitol, galactinol, galactosylglycerol) into sorbitol, myo-inositol, and glycerol.

Histidine, an amino acid, plays an important role in the creation of proteins. It is unique as an amino acid as it is needed for nucleotide formation. The biosynthesis of histidine in adults begins with the condensation of ATP and PRPP (phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate) to form n-5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate (phosphoribosyl-ATP). It is also worth noting that PRPP is the beginning compound for purine and pyrimidine creation. Subsequent histidine biosynthetic steps (from phosphoribosyl-ATP onwards) are likely to occur in the intestinal microflora. Elimination of the phosphate and the opening of the ring in phosphoribosyl-ATP forms phosphoribosyl-forminino-5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide(phosphoribosyl-forminino-AICAR-phosphate). This is subsequently converted to 5-phosphoribulosyl-forminino-5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide. Cleavage of this compound creates imidazole glycerol phosphate and AICAR (aminoimidazolecarboxamide ribonucleotide) with glutamine being involved as an amino group donor. AICAR is used again through the purine pathway while the imidazole glycerol phosphate is converted to imidazole acetal phosphate. Transamination yields histidinol phosphate which is then turned into histidinol, and then, finally, to histidine. L-histidine is catalyzed by histidine ammonia-lyase into urocanic acid. This acid is then converted to 4-imidazolone-5-propionic acid by urocanate hydratase. 4-imidazolone-5-propionic acid is then converted to formiminoglutamic acid, using the enzyme probable imidazolonepropionase. One last reaction occurs to allow for glutamate metabolism, as formiminoglutamic acid is converted to l-glutamic acid through the use of formimidoyltransferase-cyclodeaminase. Histidine is also a precursor for carnosine biosynthesis(via carnosine synthase), with beta-alanine being the rate limiting precursor. Anserine can be synthesized either from carnosine via carnosine N-methyltransferase or from 1-methylhistidine via carnosine synthase. Inversely, cytosolic non-specific dipeptidase catalyzes the synthesis of 1-methylhistidine from anserine. Histidine is found in meat, seeds, nuts and whole grains. It is a very important amino acid in keeping a pH of 7 in the body, as it acts as a shuttle for protons to maintain a balance of acids and bases in the blood and different tissues.

Amino sugars are sugar molecules containing an amine group. They make up many polysaccharides including, glycosaminoglycans or mucopolysaccharides.