Biotin and Lipoic Acid: Synthesis, Attachment, and Regulation.

ABSTRACT: Two vitamins, biotin and lipoic acid, are essential in all three domains of life. Both coenzymes function only when covalently attached to key metabolic enzymes. There they act as "swinging arms" that shuttle intermediates between two active sites (= covalent substrate channeling) of key metabolic enzymes. Although biotin was discovered over 100 years ago and lipoic acid 60 years ago, it was not known how either coenzyme is made until recently. In Escherichia coli the synthetic pathways for both coenzymes have now been worked out for the first time. The late steps of biotin synthesis, those involved in assembling the fused rings, were well described biochemically years ago, although recent progress has been made on the BioB reaction, the last step of the pathway in which the biotin sulfur

SUBMITTER: Cronan JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4233344 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature