The synthesis of building blocks
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Gluconeogenesis
The formation of sugars from noncarbohydrate precursors, gluconeogenesis, is of major importance in all living organisms. In the light, photosynthetic plants and microorganisms incorporate, or fix, carbon dioxide onto a five-carbon sugar and, via a sequence of transfer reactions, re-form the same sugar while also effecting the net synthesis of the glycolytic intermediate, 3-phosphoglycerate (see photosynthesis: The process of photosynthesis: carbon fixation and reduction). Phosphoglycerate is the precursor of starch, cell-wall carbohydrates, and other plant polysaccharides. A situation similar in principle applies to the growth of microorganisms on precursors of acetyl coenzyme A or on intermediates of the TCA cycle—that is, a large variety of cell components are derived from carbohydrates that, in turn, are synthesized from these noncarbohydrate precursors. Higher organisms also readily convert glucogenic amino acids (i.e., those that do not yield acetyl coenzyme A as a catabolic product) into TCA cycle intermediates, which are then converted into glucose. The amounts of glucose thus transformed depend on the needs of the organism for protein synthesis and on the availability of fuels other than glucose. The synthesis of blood glucose from lactate, which occurs largely in liver, is a particularly active process during recovery from intense muscular activity.
Most of the steps in the pathway for the biosynthesis of glucose from pyruvate are catalyzed by the enzymes of glycolysis; the direction of the reactions is reversed. Three virtually irreversible steps in glucose catabolism ([10], [3], and [1]) that cannot be utilized in gluconeogenesis, however, are bypassed by alternative reactions that tend to proceed in the direction of glucose synthesis.
Formation of PEP from pyruvate
The first alternative reaction is the conversion of pyruvate to PEP. Three mechanisms for overcoming the energy barrier associated with the direct reversal of the pyruvate kinase reaction [10] are known. In some bacteria, PEP is formed from pyruvate by the utilization of two of the high-energy bonds of ATP; the products include, in addition to PEP, AMP and inorganic phosphate (reaction [56]). A variant of this reaction occurs in some bacteria, in which ATP and inorganic phosphate are reactants and AMP and inorganic pyrophosphate are products; as mentioned above, inorganic pyrophosphate is likely to be hydrolyzed to two equivalents of inorganic phosphate, so that the net balance of the reaction is identical with [56].
In other organisms, including many microorganisms, birds, and mammals, the formation of PEP from pyruvate is effected by the sum of reactions [50] and [54], each of which consumes one ATP; the overall balance is shown in [57], in which two molecules of ATP react with pyruvate to form PEP, ADP, and inorganic phosphate. The enzyme adenylate kinase catalyzes the interconversion of the various adenine nucleotides, as shown in [58].
The combination of steps [57] and [58] yields the same energy balance as does the direct conversion of pyruvate to PEP in [56].
Hydrolysis of fructose 1,6-diphosphate and glucose 6-phosphate
The second step of glycolysis bypassed in gluconeogenesis is that catalyzed by phosphofructokinase (reaction [3]). Instead, the fructose 1,6-diphosphate synthesized from dihydroxyacetonephosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate in the reaction catalyzed by aldolase is hydrolyzed, with the loss of the phosphate group linked to the first carbon atom.
The enzyme fructose diphosphatase catalyzes reaction [59], in which the products are fructose 6-phosphate and inorganic phosphate. The fructose 6-phosphate thus formed is a precursor of mucopolysaccharides (polysaccharides with nitrogen-containing components). In addition, its conversion to glucose 6-phosphate provides the starting material for the formation of storage polysaccharides such as starch and glycogen, of monosaccharides other than glucose, of disaccharides (carbohydrates with two sugar components), and of some structural polysaccharides (e.g., cellulose). The maintenance of the glucose content of vertebrate blood requires glucose 6-phosphate to be converted to glucose. This process occurs in the kidney, in the lining of the intestine, and most importantly in the liver. The reaction does not occur by reversal of the hexokinase or glucokinase reactions that effect the formation of glucose 6-phosphate from glucose and ATP (reaction [1]); rather, glucose 6-phosphate is hydrolyzed in a reaction catalyzed by glucose 6-phosphatase, and the phosphate is released as inorganic phosphate (reaction [60]).
Lipid components
The component building blocks of the lipids found in storage fats, in lipoproteins (combinations of lipid and protein), and in the membranes of cells and organelles are glycerol, the fatty acids, and a number of other compounds (e.g., serine, inositol).
Glycerol
Glycerol is readily derived from dihydroxyacetone phosphate, an intermediate of glycolysis (reaction [4]). In reaction [61], catalyzed by glycerol 1-phosphate dehydrogenase, dihydroxyacetone phosphate is reduced to glycerol 1-phosphate. Reduced NAD+ provides the reducing equivalents for the reaction and is oxidized. This compound reacts further (see below Other components).