The biosynthetic pathway of medium-chain-length (MCL) polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from fatty acids has been established in fadB mutant Escherichia coli strain by expressing the MCL-PHA synthase gene. However, the enzymes that are responsible for the generation of (R)-3-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A (R3HA-CoAs), the substrates for PHA synthase, have not been thoroughly elucidated. Escherichia coli Mao...

In anaerobic bacteria using aromatic growth substrates, glutaryl-coenzyme A (CoA) dehydrogenases (GDHs) are involved in the catabolism of the central intermediate benzoyl-CoA to three acetyl-CoAs and CO(2). In this work, we studied GDHs from the strictly anaerobic, aromatic compound-degrading organisms Geobacter metallireducens (GDH(Geo)) (Fe[III] reducing) and Desulfococcus multivorans (GDH(De...

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an energy sensor and master regulator of metabolism. AMPK functions as a fuel gauge monitoring systemic and cellular energy status. Activation of AMPK occurs when the intracellular AMP/ATP ratio increases and leads to a metabolic switch from anabolism to catabolism. AMPK phosphorylates and inhibits acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), which catalyzes carboxylatio...

The low ketogenic capacity of pigs correlates with a low activity of mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) synthase. To identify the molecular mechanism controlling such activity, we isolated the pig cDNA encoding this enzyme and analysed changes in mRNA levels and mitochondrial specific activity induced during development and starvation. Pig mitochondrial synthase showed a tis...

The pathway of anaerobic toluene oxidation to benzoyl coenzyme A (benzoyl-CoA) consists of an initial reaction catalyzed by benzylsuccinate synthase, a glycyl radical enzyme adding the methyl group of toluene to the double bond of a fumarate cosubstrate, and a subsequent beta-oxidation pathway of benzylsuccinate. Benzylsuccinate synthase has been studied in some detail, whereas the enzymes part...

Mutations in Pantothenate kinase 2 and Coenzyme A (CoA) synthase (COASY), genes involved in CoA biosynthesis, are associated with rare neurodegenerative disorders with brain iron accumulation. We showed that zebrafish pank2 gene plays an essential role in brain and vasculature development. Now we extended our study to coasy. The gene has high level of sequence identity with the human ortholog a...

Acetate overflow refers to the metabolism by which a large part of carbon incorporated as glucose into Escherichia coli cells is catabolized and excreted acetate medium. We previously found that mutants for pathway enzymes phosphoacetyltransferase (Pta) kinase (AckA) showed significant diauxic growth after depletion in E. coli. Here, we analyzed underlying mechanism pta mutant. Proteomic other ...

The phenylacetic acid (PhAc) degradation pathway becomes an interesting model for the catabolism of aromatic compounds. To determine the molecular basis for this environmentally important process, we did a phylogenic analysis based on the PhAc CoA ligase gene. It suggests that the PhAc CoA ligase genes are distributing widely and subject to frequent lateral gene transfer within and across bacte...

Coenzyme A (CoA) and its thioester derivatives are important precursor molecules for many industrially useful compounds such as esters, PHBs, lycopene and polyketides. Previously, in our lab we could increase the intracellular levels of CoA and acetyl-Coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) by overexpressing one of the upstream rate-controlling enzymes pantothenate kinase with a concomitant supplementation of ...