HIF-1-mediated expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase: a metabolic switch required for cellular adaptation to hypoxia

Activation of glycolytic genes by HIF-1 is considered critical for metabolic adaptation to hypoxia through increased conversion of glucose to pyruvate and subsequently to lactate. We found that HIF-1 also actively suppresses metabolism through the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) by directly trans-activating the gene encoding pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1). PDK1 inactivates the TCA cycle enzyme, pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), which converts pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. Forced PDK1 expression in hypoxic HIF-1alpha null cells increases ATP levels, attenuates hypoxic ROS generation, and rescues these cells from hypoxia-induced apoptosis. These studies reveal a hypoxia-induced metabolic switch that shunts glucose metabolites from the mitochondria to glycolysis to maintain ATP production and to prevent toxic ROS production.     

Enhancement of acetyl-CoA flux for photosynthetic chemical production by pyruvate dehydrogenase complex overexpression in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

Genetic manipulation in cyanobacteria enables the direct production of valuable chemicals from carbon dioxide. However, there are still very few reports of the production of highly effective photosynthetic chemicals. Several synthetic metabolic pathways (e.g., isopropanol, acetone, isoprene, and fatty acids) have been constructed by branching from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA, which are key intermediates for photosynthetic chemical production downstream of pyruvate decarboxylation. Recent reports of the absolute determination of cellular metabolites in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 have shown that its acetyl-CoA levels corresponded to about one hundredth of the pyruvate levels. In short, one of the reasons for lower photosynthetic chemical production from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA was the smaller flux to acetyl-CoA. Pyruvate decarboxylation is a primary pathway for acetyl-CoA synthesis from pyruvate and is mainly catalyzed by the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHc). In this study, we tried to enhance the flux toward acetyl-CoA from pyruvate by overexpressing PDH genes and, thus, catalyzing the conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA via NADH generation. The overexpression of PDH genes cloned from S. elongatus PCC 7942 significantly increased PDHc enzymatic activity and intracellular acetyl-CoA levels in the crude cell extract. Although growth defects were observed in overexpressing strains of PDH genes, the combinational overexpression of PDH genes with the synthetic metabolic pathway for acetate or isopropanol resulted in about 7-fold to 9-fold improvement in its production titer, respectively (9.9 mM, 594.5 mg/L acetate, 4.9 mM, 294.5 mg/L isopropanol). PDH genes overexpression would, therefore, be useful not only for the production of these model chemicals, but also for the production of other chemicals that require acetyl-CoA as a key precursor.     

Engineering a homobutanol fermentation pathway in Escherichia coli EG03

A homobutanol fermentation pathway was engineered in a derivative of Escherichia coli B (glucose [glycolysis] => 2 pyruvate + 2 NADH; pyruvate [pyruvate dehydrogenase] => acetyl-CoA + NADH; 2 acetyl-CoA [butanol pathway enzymes] + 4 NADH => butanol; summary stoichiometry: glucose => butanol). Initially, the native fermentation pathways were eliminated from E. coli B by deleting the genes encoding for lactate dehydrogenase (ldhA), acetate kinase (ackA), fumarate reductase (frdABCD), pyruvate formate lyase (pflB), and alcohol dehydrogenase (adhE), and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (aceEF-lpd) was anaerobically expressed through promoter replacement. The resulting strain, E. coli EG03 (ΔfrdABCD ΔldhA ΔackA ΔpflB Δ adhE ΔpdhR ::pflBp6-aceEF-lpd ΔmgsA), could generate 4 NADH for every glucose oxidized to two acetyl-CoA through glycolysis and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. However, EG03 lost its ability for anaerobic growth due to the lack of NADH oxidation pathways. When the butanol pathway genes that encode for acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase (thiL), 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase (hbd), crotonase (crt), butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase (bcd, etfA, etfB), and butyraldehyde dehydrogenase (adheII) were cloned from Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824, and expressed in E. coli EG03, a balanced NADH oxidation pathway was established for homobutanol fermentation (glucose => 4 NADH + 2 acetyl-CoA => butanol). This strain was able to convert glucose to butanol (1,254 mg l(-1)) under anaerobic condition.     

Metabolism and transport of glutamine and glucose in vascularly perfused small intestine of the rat

1. The proportion of active (dephosphorylated) pyruvate dehydrogenase in rat heart mitochondria was correlated with total concentration ratios of ATP/ADP, NADH/NAD+ and acetyl-CoA/CoA. These metabolites were measured with ATP-dependent and NADH-dependent luciferases. 2. Increase in the concentration ratio of NADH/NAD+ at constant [ATP]/[ADP] and [acetyl-CoA]/[CoA] was associated with increased phosphorylation and inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase. This was based on comparison between mitochondria incubated with 0.4mM- or 1mM-succinate and mitochondria incubated with 0.4mM-succinate+/-rotenone. 3. Increase in the concentration ratio acetyl-CoA/CoA at constant [ATP]/[ADP] and [NADH][NAD+] was associated with increased phosphorylation and inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase. This was based on comparison between incubations in 50 micrometer-palmitotoyl-L-carnitine and in 250 micrometer-2-oxoglutarate +50 micrometer-L-malate. 4. These findings are consistent with activation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase reaction by high ratios of [NADH]/[NAD+] and of [acetyl-CoA]/[CoA]. 5. Comparison between mitochondria from hearts of diabetic and non-diabetic rats shows that phosphorylation and inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase is enhanced in alloxan-diabetes by some factor other than concentration ratios of ATP/ADP, NADH/NAD+ or acetyl-CoA/CoA.     

Regulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase by fatty acid in isolated rat liver mitochondria.

The mechanism by which fatty acid addition leads to the inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase in intact rat liver mitochondria was investigated. In all cases the fatty acid octanoate was added to mitochondria oxidizing succinate. Addition of fatty acid caused an inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase in mitochondria incubated under State 3 conditions (glucose plus hexokinase), in uncoupled, oligomycin-treated mitochondria, and in rotenone-menadione-treated mitochondria, but not in uncoupled mitochondria or in mitochondria incubated under State 4 conditions. A number of metabolic conditions were found in which pyruvate dehydrogenase was inactivated concomitant with an elevation in the ATP/ADP ratio. This is consistent with the inverse relationship between the ATP/ADP ratio and the pyruvate dehydrogenase activity proposed by various laboratories. However, in several other metabolic conditions pyruvate dehydrogenase was inactivated while the ATP/ADP ratio either was unchanged or even decreased. This observation implies that there are likely other regulatory factors involved in the fatty acid-mediated inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase. Incubation conditions in State 3 were found in which the ATP/ADP and the acetyl-CoA/CoASH ratios remained constant and the pyruvate dehydrogenase activity was correlated inversely with the NADH/NAD+ ratio. Other State 3 conditions were found in which the ATP/ADP and the NADH/NAD+ ratios remained constant while the pyruvate dehydrogenase activity was correlated inversely with the acetyl-CoA/CoASH ratio. Further evidence supporting these experiments with intact mitochondria was the observation that the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase activity of a mitochondrial extract was stimulated strongly by acetyl-CoA and was inhibited by NAD+ and CoASH. In contrast to acetyl-CoA, octanoyl-CoA inhibited the kinase activity. These results indicate that the inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase by fatty acid in isolated rat liver mitochondria may be mediated through effects of the NADH/NAD+ ratio and the acetyl-CoA/CoASH ratio on the interconversion of the active and inactive forms of the enzyme complex catalyzed by pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase and pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase.     

The role of pyruvate dehydrogenase and acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase in fatty acid synthesis in developing Arabidopsis seeds

Acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) formed within the plastid is the precursor for the biosynthesis of fatty acids and, through them, a range of important biomolecules. The source of acetyl-CoA in the plastid is not known, but two enzymes are thought to be involved: acetyl-CoA synthetase and plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase. To determine the importance of these two enzymes in synthesizing acetyl-CoA during lipid accumulation in developing Arabidopsis seeds, we isolated cDNA clones for acetyl-CoA synthetase and for the ptE1alpha- and ptE1beta-subunits of plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase. To our knowledge, this is the first reported acetyl-CoA synthetase sequence from a plant source. The Arabidopsis acetyl-CoA synthetase preprotein has a calculated mass of 76,678 D, an apparent plastid targeting sequence, and the mature protein is a monomer of 70 to 72 kD. During silique development, the spatial and temporal patterns of the ptE1beta mRNA level are very similar to those of the mRNAs for the plastidic heteromeric acetyl-CoA carboxylase subunits. The pattern of ptE1beta mRNA accumulation strongly correlates with the formation of lipid within the developing embryo. In contrast, the level of mRNA for acetyl-CoA synthetase does not correlate in time and space with lipid accumulation. The highest level of accumulation of the mRNA for acetyl-CoA synthetase during silique development is within the funiculus. These mRNA data suggest a predominant role for plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase in acetyl-CoA formation during lipid synthesis in seeds.     

Occurrence and metabolic role of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in the lower termite Coptotermes formosanus (Shiraki)

The activities of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in extracts of the gutted body, head, foregut/midgut and hindgut (hindgut epithelium and microorganisms) tissues of the lower termite Coptotermes formosanus (Shiraki) were determined by measuring the [¹⁴C]-acetyl-CoA produced from [2-¹⁴C]-pyruvate and the ¹⁴CO₂ produced from [1-¹⁴C]-pyruvate. The activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase, l-lactate dehydrogenase, acetyl-CoA synthetase, malate dehydrogenase (decarboxylating), and acetate kinase in the termite tissues and the hindgut also were determined. The sum (7.1 nmol/termite/h) of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex activities in the termite tissues other than the hindgut was five times higher than the activity in the hindgut. Significant amounts of l-lactate dehydrogenase activity were found in all of the tissues. All of the tissues other than the hindgut had significant amounts of acetyl-CoA synthetase activity. Malate dehydrogenase (decarboxylating) activity was about ten times higher in the hindgut extract than in the gutted body and head extracts and the activity in the foregut/midgut extract was very low. These results indicate that acetyl-CoA for the TCA cycle is produced effectively in the tissues of the termite itself, both from pyruvate by the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and from acetate by acetyl-CoA synthetase.     

Determination of pyruvate dehydrogenase and acetyl-CoA synthetase activities using citrate synthase

Methods are described for the assay of pyruvate dehydrogenase and acetyl-CoA synthetase activities in rat brain subcellular fractions. Citrate synthase and oxaloacetate serve as a trapping system in these assays. The methods permit the determination of a large number of samples of different turbidity with satisfactory precision. Highest activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase and acetyl-CoA synthetase (117.7 and 7.29 nmol/min/mg of protein, respectively) were found in rat brain mitochondria. A three times lower activity of acetyl-CoA synthetase and negligible of pyruvate dehydrogenase was found in brain cytosol.     

Acetyl-CoA Synthesizing Enzymes in Cholinergic Nerve Terminals

The activities of five enzymes involved in acetyl-CoA synthesis, pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, ATP citrate lyase, carnitine acetyltransferase, acetyl-CoA synthetase, and citrate synthase, were determined in normal nucleus interpeduncularis and nucleus interpeduncularis in which cholinergic terminals were removed following lesion of the habenulointerpeduncular tract. The activities of aspartate transaminase, fumarase, and GABA transaminase also were determined to compare the effect of lesion on other mitochondrial enzymes which are not linked to the biosynthesis of ACh. In normal nucleus interpeduncularis the activities of carnitine acetyltransferase and pyruvate dehydrogenase complex were higher than the activity of ChAT (choline acetyltransferase), whereas the activities of acetyl-CoA synthetase and citrate synthase were considerably lower than that of ChAT. The effect of the lesion separated the enzymes into two groups: the activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, carnitine acetyltransferase, fumarase and aspartate transaminase decreased by 30--40%, whereas the activities of the other enzymes descreased 5--15%. ChAT activity was in all cases less than 15% of normal. It could be concluded that none of the acetyl-CoA synthesizing enzymes decreased to the degree that ChAT did. Only pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and carnitine acetyltransferase seem to be localized in cholinergic terminals to a significant degree. ATP citrate lyase as well as acetyl-CoA synthetase seem to have less significance in supporting acetyl-CoA formation in cholinergic nerve terminals.     

Measurements of electron spin resonance with the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli. Studies on the allosteric binding site of acetyl-coenzyme A

Binding of the feedback inhibitor acetyl-coenzyme A to the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli was studied by electron spin resonance spectroscopy with the spin-labelled acetyl-CoA analogue 3-carboxy-2,2,5,5-tetramethylpyrrolidine-1-oxyl-CoA-thioester. The spin-labelled compound binds to the pyruvate dehydrogenase component of the enzyme complex and this binding can be reversed by acetyl-CoA, while CoA has no effect. AMP and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, which are both activators of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, exhibit a partial competition with the spin-labelled acetyl-CoA analogue and it could be shown that both activators act essentially by reversion of the feedback inhibition of acetyl-CoA. The binding site for these activators seems to overlap with the acetyl-CoA binding site, possibly by a common phosphate attachment point. No competition for binding to the feedback inhibition site exists with pyruvate, thiamine diphosphate, magnesium ions and with the fluorescent chromophore 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonic acid. Thus, the feedback inhibition site proves to be a true allosteric regulatory site, which appears to be completely separate from the catalytic site on the pyruvate dehydrogenase component. The spin-labelled acetyl-CoA analogue binds also to the product binding site of acetyl-CoA on the dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. Two binding sites per polypeptide chain with identical affinities on this enzyme component were found and the binding of the analogue can be inhibited by acetyl-CoA as well as by CoA.     

Molecular characteristics and transcription of the gene encoding a multifunctional alcohol dehydrogenase in relation to the deactivation of pyruvate formate-lyase in the ruminal bacterium<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Streptococcus bovis</Emphasis>

To clarify the deactivation mechanism of pyruvate formate-lyase (PFL) and its role in the regulation of fermentation in Streptococcus bovis, the molecular properties and genetic expression of multifunctional alcohol dehydrogenase (ADHE) were investigated. S. bovis was found to have ADHE, which was deduced to consist of 872 amino acids with a molecular mass of 97.4 kDa. The ADHE was shown to harbor three enzyme activities: (1) alcohol dehydrogenase, (2) coenzyme-A-linked acetaldehyde dehydrogenase that catalyzes the conversion of acetyl-CoA to ethanol, and (3) PFL deactivase. Similar to Escherichia coli ADHE, S. bovis ADHE required Fe2+ for its activity. The gene encoding ADHE ( adhE) was shown to be monocistronic. The level of adhE mRNA changed in parallel with the mRNA levels of the genes encoding PFL (pfl) and PFL-activating enzyme (act) as the growth conditions changed, although these genes are independently transcribed. Synthesis of ADHE, PFL-activating enzyme, and PFL appears to be regulated concomitantly. Overexpression of ADHE did not cause a change in the formate-to-lactate ratio. It is conceivable that ADHE is not significantly involved in the reversible inactivation of active PFL under anoxic conditions. Partition of the flow from pyruvate appears to be mainly regulated by the activities of lactate dehydrogenase and PFL.     

Nuclear accumulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase alpha 1 promotes histone acetylation and is essential for zygotic genome activation in porcine embryos

Porcine zygotic genome activation (ZGA) occurs along with global epigenetic remodeling at the 4-cell stage. These processes are regulated by histone acetylation, which requires acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA). Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) is a crucial enzyme in glucose metabolism that converts pyruvate into acetyl-CoA. In mammalian cells, acetyl-CoA is produced by pyruvate dehydrogenase alpha 1 (PDHA1) translocated into the nucleus in special conditions. To determine whether zygotic PDHA1 plays a critical role in promoting histone acetylation during ZGA, a CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system using multiple guide RNAs was employed to generate a PDHA1-targeted parthenogenetic embryo model. Results of immunofluorescent staining showed that the nuclear accumulation of PDHA1 during ZGA was significantly inhibited by PDHA1 targeting. Meanwhile, the 4-cell arrest rate significantly increased at 72 h after activation, indicating impeded embryonic development. In addition, nuclear histone acetylation significantly decreased when PDHA1 was targeted, and quantitative PCR showed that expression of several zygotic genes was significantly decreased in the PDHA1-targeting group compared to the control group. Overexpression of PDHA1 recovered the nuclear PDHA1, H3K9Ac and H3K27Ac and EIF1A expression levels. Moreover, the 5-to-8-cell-stage embryo development rate was only partially rescued. In conclusion, expression of zygotic origin PDHA1 contributes to porcine ZGA by maintaining histone acetylation in porcine embryos.     

Effects of branched chain alpha-ketoacids on the metabolism of isolated rat liver cells. I. Regulation of branched chain alpha-ketoacid metabolism.

alpha-Ketoisocaproate (ketoleucine) is shown to be metabolized to ketone bodies rapidly by isolated rat liver cells. Acetoacetate is the major end product and maximum rates were observed with 2 mM substrate. Studies with 2-tetradecylglycidic acid (an inhibitor of long chain fatty acid oxidation) showed that ketogenesis from alpha-ketoisocaproate and from endogenous fatty acids were additive. With alpha-ketoisocaproate present as soole substrate at 2 mM, leucine production was less than 10% of alpha-ketoisocaproate uptake and only 30% of the acetyl coenzyme A generated was oxidized in the citric acid cycle. Metabolism of alpha-ketoisocaproate was inhibited by fatty acids, alpha-ketoisovalerate, alpha-keto-beta-methylvalerate, and pyruvate. Oxidation of acetyl-CoA generated from alpha-ketoisocaproate was suppressed by oleate and by pyruvate, but was enhanced by lactate. Metabolism between the different branched chain alpha-ketoacids was mutually competitive. When alpha-ketoisocaproate (2 mM) was added in the presence of high pyruvate concentrations (4.4 mM), flux through pyruvate dehydrogenase was decreased, and the proportion of total pyruvate dehydrogenase in the active form (PDHa) also fell. With lactate as substrate, PDHa was only 25% of total activity and was little affected by addition of alpha-ketoisocaproate. These data suggest that enhanced oxidation of acetyl-CoA from alpha-ketoisocaproate by lactate addition is caused by a low activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase combined with increased flux through the citric acid cycle in response to the energy requirements for gluconeogenesis. However, acetyl-CoA generation from pyruvate is apparently insufficiently inhibited by alpha-ketoisocaproate to cause a diversion of acetyl-CoA formed during alpha-ketoisocaproate metabolism from ketone body formation to oxidation in the citric acid cycle. Measurements of the cell contents of CoASH, acetyl-CoA, acid-soluble acyl-CoA, and acid-insoluble fatty acyl-CoA indicated that when the branched chain alpha-ketoacids were added as sole substrate, their oxidation was limited at a step distal to the branched chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase. Acid-soluble acyl-CoA derivatives were depleted after oleate addition in the presence of alpha-ketoisocaproate, suggesting an inhibition of the branched chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase by the elevation of the mitochondrial NADH/NAD+ ratio observed during fatty acid oxidation. This effect was not observed in the presence of oleate and 2-tetradecylglycidic acid.     

Pyruvate metabolism by lymphocytes: evidence for an additional ketogenic tissue

The rate of utilization of pyruvate (at various concentrations) was measured in lymphocytes prepared from rat mesenteric lymph nodes. The quantitative contribution of pyruvate to CO2, lactate, aspartate, alanine, citrate, acetate, acetyl-CoA and ketone bodies accounted for the pyruvate metabolized. Pyruvate utilization was depressed by increasing concentrations of pyruvate. The maximum catalytic activities and selected intracellular distributions of the following enzymes of pyruvate, citrate and acetyl-CoA metabolism were measured: citrate synthase, ATP-citrate lyase, lactate dehydrogenase, acetyl-CoA hydrolase, acetylcarnitine transferase, NAD+- and NADP+- isocitrate dehydrogenases, HMG-CoA lyase, HMG-CoA synthase, Pyruvate dehydrogenase, acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase, 3-oxoacid-CoA transferase, 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase and pyruvate carboxylase. Acetyl-CoA formed from pyruvate did not contribute to the respiratory energy metabolism of resting lymphocytes. Instead acetyl-CoA was converted to acetoacetate by reactions which may favour the pathway catalyzed by acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase and 3-oxoacid-CoA transferase. Acetate, acetyl- and palmitoyl-carnitine inhibited the decarboxylation of [1-14C] pyruvate. These observations may be connected with the suppression of pyruvate utilization by increased pyruvate substrate concentration. Only very small amounts of either pyruvate or acetate were incorporated into lipids in resting lymphocytes. The amounts incorporated were partitioned in approximately the same pattern into FFA, T.G., cholesterol and cholesterol esters. Taken together the data show that pyruvate metabolism is directed inter alia at the formation of acetoacetate which may serve as a lipid synthesis precursor. When pyruvate utilization and metabolism was enhanced by concanavalin A, then acetoacetate formation was not favoured and from this it is proposed that the acetyl units may then be directed into lipid synthesis and may also make a contribution to the energy metabolism of the activated lymphocyte.     

Relative importance of pyruvate dehydrogenase interconversion and feed-back inhibition in the effect of fatty acids on pyruvate oxidation by rat heart mitochondria.

Rat heart mitochondria have been incubated with concentrations of pyruvate from 50 to 500 μm as substrate in the presence or absence of an optimal concentration of palmitoylcarnitine and with respiration limited by phosphate acceptor. The rate of pyruvate utilization has been determined and compared with the amount of active (dephosphorylated) pyruvate dehydrogenase measured in samples of mitochondria taken throughout the experiments and assayed under V_max conditions. At a given pyruvate concentration, differences in pyruvate utilization as a proportion of the content of active pyruvate dehydrogenase are attributed to differences in feed-back inhibition and interpreted in terms of the ratios of mitochondrial $\text{NAD}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{NADH}$ and CoA/acetyl-CoA. Under most conditions, differences in inhibition can be attributed to differences in the CoA/acetyl-CoA ratio. Feed-back inhibition is very pronounced in the presence of palmitoylcarnitine. These parameters are also examined in the presence of dichloroacetate, used to raise the steady-state levels of active pyruvate dehydrogenase in the absence of changing the pyruvate concentration, and in the presence of various ratios of carnitine/acetylcarnitine, which predominantly change the mitochondrial CoA/acetyl-CoA ratio. The latter experiment provides evidence that a decrease in mitochondrial $\text{NAD}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{NADH}$ ratio from 3.5 to 2.2 essentially balances an increase in CoA/acetyl-CoA ratio from 0.67 to 12 in modulating enzyme interconversion, whereas the change in CoA/acetyl-CoA ratio is preponderant in effecting feed-back inhibition. Increasing the free Ca²⁺ concentration of incubation media from 10^?7 to 10^?6m using CaCl₂-ethylene glycol bis(β-aminoethyl ether)-N,N′-tetraacetic acid buffers is shown to increase the steady-state level of active pyruvate dehydrogenase in intact mitochondria, in the absence of added ionophores. Moreover, this activation is reversible. Effects of Ca²⁺ ions are dependent upon the poise of the enzyme interconversion system and were only seen in these experiments in the presence of palmitoylcarnitine.     

The control of tricarboxylate-cycle oxidations in blowfly flight muscle. The steady-state concentrations of coenzyme A, acetyl-coenzyme A and succinyl-coenzyme A in flight muscle and isolated mitochondria

(1) A ;cycling' method involving citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7) and malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.37) was modified by the inclusion of succinyl-CoA synthetase (EC 6.2.1.5) and hexokinase (EC 2.7.1.1) to permit the determination of very small amounts of succinyl-CoA in addition to CoA and acetyl-CoA. (2) Application of this technique to blowfly (Phormia regina) flight-muscle extracts reveals no change in acetyl-CoA concentration, a slight fall in CoA concentration and a rise in succinyl-CoA concentration during flight. (3) Extraction of isolated mitochondria during controlled (state 4) pyruvate oxidation reveals essentially only acetyl-CoA. Activation of respiration by ADP (state 3) or uncoupling agents leads to a fall in acetyl-CoA and a rise in CoA and succinyl-CoA content. (4) The presence of glycerol phosphate in addition to pyruvate results in a lower acetyl-CoA content in state 4. (5) It is contended that these results are consistent with a primary control of one of the reactions of the tricarboxylate cycle, rather than of pyruvate dehydrogenase, during the state 4 oxidation of pyruvate by isolated mitochondria, and that the modulation of citrate synthase activity by the ratio of acetyl-CoA/succinyl-CoA is unimportant under these conditions.