A prosthetic group is the non-amino acid component that is part of the structure of the heteroproteins or conjugated proteins, being tightly linked to the apoprotein.
Not to be confused with the cosubstrate that binds to the enzyme apoenzyme (either a holoprotein or heteroprotein) by non-covalent binding a non-protein (non-amino acid)
This is a component of a conjugated protein that is required for the protein's biological activity. [1] The prosthetic group may be organic (such as a vitamin, sugar, RNA, phosphate or lipid) or inorganic (such as a metal ion). Prosthetic groups are bound tightly to proteins and may even be attached through a covalent bond. They often play an important role in enzyme catalysis. A protein without its prosthetic group is called an apoprotein, while a protein combined with its prosthetic group is called a holoprotein. A non-covalently bound prosthetic group cannot generally be removed from the holoprotein without denaturating the protein. Thus, the term "prosthetic group" is a very general one and its main emphasis is on the tight character of its binding to the apoprotein. It defines a structural property, in contrast to the term "coenzyme" that defines a functional property.
Prosthetic groups are a subset of cofactors. Loosely bound metal ions and coenzymes are still cofactors, but are generally not called prosthetic groups. [2] [3] [4] In enzymes, prosthetic groups are involved in the catalytic mechanism and required for activity. Other prosthetic groups have structural properties. This is the case for the sugar and lipid moieties in glycoproteins and lipoproteins or RNA in ribosomes. They can be very large, representing the major part of the protein in proteoglycans for instance.
The heme group in hemoglobin is a prosthetic group. Further examples of organic prosthetic groups are vitamin derivatives: thiamine pyrophosphate, pyridoxal-phosphate and biotin. Since prosthetic groups are often vitamins or made from vitamins, this is one of the reasons why vitamins are required in the human diet. Inorganic prosthetic groups are usually transition metal ions such as iron (in heme groups, for example in cytochrome c oxidase and hemoglobin), zinc (for example in carbonic anhydrase), copper (for example in complex IV of the respiratory chain) and molybdenum (for example in nitrate reductase).
The table below contains a list of some of the most common prosthetic groups.
Prosthetic group | Function | Distribution |
---|---|---|
Flavin mononucleotide [5] | Redox reactions | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Flavin adenine dinucleotide [5] | Redox reactions | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Pyrroloquinoline quinone [6] | Redox reactions | Bacteria |
Pyridoxal phosphate [7] | Transamination, decarboxylation and deamination | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Biotin [8] | Carboxylation | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Methylcobalamin [9] | Methylation and isomerisation | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Thiamine pyrophosphate [10] | Transfer of 2-carbon groups, α cleavage | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Heme [11] | Oxygen binding and redox reactions | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Molybdopterin [12] [13] | Oxygenation reactions | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Lipoic acid [14] | Redox reactions | Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes |
Cofactor F430 | Methanogenesis | Archaea |
Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. Almost all metabolic processes in the cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. Metabolic pathways depend upon enzymes to catalyze individual steps. The study of enzymes is called enzymology and the field of pseudoenzyme analysis recognizes that during evolution, some enzymes have lost the ability to carry out biological catalysis, which is often reflected in their amino acid sequences and unusual 'pseudocatalytic' properties.
Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin, an essential micronutrient for humans and animals. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosphorylated forms of thiamine are required for some metabolic reactions, including the breakdown of glucose and amino acids.
Vitamin B6 is one of the B vitamins, and thus an essential nutrient. The term refers to a group of six chemically similar compounds, i.e., "vitamers", which can be interconverted in biological systems. Its active form, pyridoxal 5′-phosphate, serves as a coenzyme in more than 140 enzyme reactions in amino acid, glucose, and lipid metabolism.
A hemeprotein, or heme protein, is a protein that contains a heme prosthetic group. They are a very large class of metalloproteins. The heme group confers functionality, which can include oxygen carrying, oxygen reduction, electron transfer, and other processes. Heme is bound to the protein either covalently or noncovalently or both.
Metalloprotein is a generic term for a protein that contains a metal ion cofactor. A large proportion of all proteins are part of this category. For instance, at least 1000 human proteins contain zinc-binding protein domains although there may be up to 3000 human zinc metalloproteins.
A biomolecule or biological molecule is loosely defined as a molecule produced by a living organism and essential to one or more typically biological processes. Biomolecules include large macromolecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids, as well as small molecules such as vitamins and hormones. A general name for this class of material is biological materials. Biomolecules are an important element of living organisms, those biomolecules are often endogenous, produced within the organism but organisms usually need exogenous biomolecules, for example certain nutrients, to survive.
A cofactor is a non-protein chemical compound or metallic ion that is required for an enzyme's role as a catalyst. Cofactors can be considered "helper molecules" that assist in biochemical transformations. The rates at which these happen are characterized in an area of study called enzyme kinetics. Cofactors typically differ from ligands in that they often derive their function by remaining bound.
Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), also called methoxatin, is a redox cofactor and antioxidant.
Aminolevulinic acid synthase (ALA synthase, ALAS, or delta-aminolevulinic acid synthase) is an enzyme (EC 2.3.1.37) that catalyzes the synthesis of δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) the first common precursor in the biosynthesis of all tetrapyrroles such as hemes, cobalamins and chlorophylls. The reaction is as follows:
Pyridoxal phosphate (PLP, pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, P5P), the active form of vitamin B6, is a coenzyme in a variety of enzymatic reactions. The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has catalogued more than 140 PLP-dependent activities, corresponding to ~4% of all classified activities. The versatility of PLP arises from its ability to covalently bind the substrate, and then to act as an electrophilic catalyst, thereby stabilizing different types of carbanionic reaction intermediates.
In biochemistry, flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) is a redox-active coenzyme associated with various proteins, which is involved with several enzymatic reactions in metabolism. A flavoprotein is a protein that contains a flavin group, which may be in the form of FAD or flavin mononucleotide (FMN). Many flavoproteins are known: components of the succinate dehydrogenase complex, α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, and a component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.
Transketolase is an enzyme that, in humans, is encoded by the TKT gene. It participates in both the pentose phosphate pathway in all organisms and the Calvin cycle of photosynthesis. Transketolase catalyzes two important reactions, which operate in opposite directions in these two pathways. In the first reaction of the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, the cofactor thiamine diphosphate accepts a 2-carbon fragment from a 5-carbon ketose (D-xylulose-5-P), then transfers this fragment to a 5-carbon aldose (D-ribose-5-P) to form a 7-carbon ketose (sedoheptulose-7-P). The abstraction of two carbons from D-xylulose-5-P yields the 3-carbon aldose glyceraldehyde-3-P. In the Calvin cycle, transketolase catalyzes the reverse reaction, the conversion of sedoheptulose-7-P and glyceraldehyde-3-P to pentoses, the aldose D-ribose-5-P and the ketose D-xylulose-5-P.
A holoprotein or conjugated protein is an apoprotein combined with its prosthetic group.
Enzyme catalysis is the increase in the rate of a process by an "enzyme", a biological molecule. Most enzymes are proteins, and most such processes are chemical reactions. Within the enzyme, generally catalysis occurs at a localized site, called the active site.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase is an enzyme that catalyzes the reaction of pyruvate and a lipoamide to give the acetylated dihydrolipoamide and carbon dioxide. The conversion requires the coenzyme thiamine pyrophosphate.
Pyridoxine 5′-phosphate oxidase is an enzyme, encoded by the PNPO gene, that catalyzes several reactions in the vitamin B6 metabolism pathway. Pyridoxine 5′-phosphate oxidase catalyzes the final, rate-limiting step in vitamin B6 metabolism, the biosynthesis of pyridoxal 5′-phosphate, the biologically active form of vitamin B6 which acts as an essential cofactor. Pyridoxine 5′-phosphate oxidase is a member of the enzyme class oxidases, or more specifically, oxidoreductases. These enzymes catalyze a simultaneous oxidation-reduction reaction. The substrate oxidase enzymes is hydroxylated by one oxygen atom of molecular oxygen. Concurrently, the other oxygen atom is reduced to water. Even though molecular oxygen is the electron acceptor in these enzymes' reactions, they are unique because oxygen does not appear in the oxidized product.
Serine dehydratase or L-serine ammonia lyase (SDH) is in the β-family of pyridoxal phosphate-dependent (PLP) enzymes. SDH is found widely in nature, but its structure and properties vary among species. SDH is found in yeast, bacteria, and the cytoplasm of mammalian hepatocytes. SDH catalyzes the deamination of L-serine to yield pyruvate, with the release of ammonia.
In molecular biology, the Cys/Met metabolism PLP-dependent enzyme family is a family of proteins including enzymes involved in cysteine and methionine metabolism which use PLP (pyridoxal-5'-phosphate) as a cofactor.
Radical SAM enzymes belong to a superfamily of enzymes that use an iron-sulfur cluster (4Fe-4S) to reductively cleave S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to generate a radical, usually a 5′-deoxyadenosyl radical (5'-dAdo), as a critical intermediate. These enzymes utilize this radical intermediate to perform diverse transformations, often to functionalize unactivated C-H bonds. Radical SAM enzymes are involved in cofactor biosynthesis, enzyme activation, peptide modification, post-transcriptional and post-translational modifications, metalloprotein cluster formation, tRNA modification, lipid metabolism, biosynthesis of antibiotics and natural products etc. The vast majority of known radical SAM enzymes belong to the radical SAM superfamily, and have a cysteine-rich motif that matches or resembles CxxxCxxC. Radical SAM enzymes comprise the largest superfamily of metal-containing enzymes.
Ruma Banerjee is a professor of enzymology and biological chemistry at the University of Michigan Medical School. She is an experimentalist whose research has focused on unusual cofactors in enzymology.
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