Amino acid

catabolism II

Dr. Mohammad Akram

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Catabolism?

is the set of metabolic pathways that

break down molecules into smaller
units and release energy.

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 Dynamics of Protein
And Amino Acid Metabolism

Dietary Proteins Digestion to Amino Acids

Transport in Blood to Cells

Protein Synthesis Functional Proteins

Amino Acids Protein Degradation

Metabolites 3
Metabolic Classification of the
Amino Acids
• Essential and Non-essential

• Glucogenic and Ketogenic

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 Non-Essential Amino Acids in
Humans
 Not required in diet
 Can be formed from α -keto acids by
transamination and subsequent
reactions • Alanine • Glycine
• Asparagine • Proline
• Aspartate • Serine
• Glutamate • Cysteine (from Met*)
• Glutamine • Tyrosine (from Phe*)
* Essential amino acids
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 Essential Amino Acids in
Humans
 Required in diet
 Humans incapable of forming requisite
carbon skeleton
• Arginine • Lysine
• Histidine • Methionine
• Isoleucine • Threonine
• Leucine • Phenylalanine
• Valine • Tryptophan

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Glucogenic Amino Acids
 Metabolized to α -ketoglutarate, pyruvate,
oxaloacetate, fumarate, or succinyl CoA
Phosphoenolpyruvate Glucose

• Aspartate • Methionine • Alanine

• Asparagine • Valine • Serine
• Arginine • Glutamine • Cysteine
• Phenylalanine • Glutamate • Glycine
• Tyrosine • Proline • Threonine
• Isoleucine • Histidine • Tryptophan

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Ketogenic Amino Acids
 Metabolized to acetyl CoA or acetoacetyl CoA

Animals cannot convert acetyl CoA or

acetoacetyl CoA to pyruvate

• Isoleucine • Tryptophan
• Leucine * • Phenylalanine
• Lysine * • Tyrosine
• Threonine
* Leucine and lysine are only ketogenic
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Amino acid catabolism

The carbon frames of amino acids are broken

down into metabolites that can either be
oxidized into CO2 and H2O to generate ATP
(Adenosine-triphosphate) , or can be used for
gluconeogenesis. The catabolism of amino acids
accounts for 10 to 15% of the human body’s
energy production.
Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) is a multifunctional nucleotide that
plays an important role in cell biology to intracellular energy transfer.

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Catabolism Process
(example)
Protein

Amino acid

Acetyl-CoA (acetyl coenzyme A)

Citric acid Cycle

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Essential Amino acids

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Arginine

The catabolism of arginine begins within the context

of the urea cycle. It is hydrolyzed to urea and
ornithine by arginase. Urea is the major end product
of nitrogen metabolism in humans and mammals. The
urea cycle or the ornithine cycle describes the
conversion reactions of ammonia into urea. Since
these reactions occur in the liver, the urea is then
transported to the kidneys where it is excreted. The
overall urea formation reaction is:

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Valine, Leucine and
Isoleucine Catabolism
This group of essential amino
acids are identified as the
branched-chain amino acids.
Because this arrangement of
carbon atoms cannot be made by
humans, these amino acids are
an essential element in the diet.

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Catabolism

The catabolism of all three

compounds initiates in muscle
and yields NADH and FADH2
which can be utilized for ATP
generation. The catabolism of all
three of these amino acids uses
the same enzymes in the first two
(NADH) Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide plus Hydrogen
(FADH) Flavin adenine dinucleotide
steps.
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Lysine Catabolism

Lysine catabolism is unusual in the

way that the ε-amino group is
transferred to α-ketoglutarate and
into the general nitrogen pool. The
reaction is a transamination in which
the ε-amino group is transferred to
the α-keto carbon of α-ketoglutarate
forming the metabolite,
saccharopine.
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Histidine Catabolism

Histidine catabolism begins with

release of the α-amino group
catalyzed by histidase,
introducing a double bond into
the molecule. The end product of
histidine catabolism is glutamate,
making histidine one of the
glucogenic amino acids.
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Tryptophan Catabolism
A number of important side reactions
occur during the catabolism of
tryptophan on the pathway to
acetoacetate. The first enzyme of the
catabolic pathway is an iron porphyrin
oxygenase that opens the indole ring.
The latter enzyme is highly inducible, its
concentration rising almost 10-fold on a
diet high in tryptophan.

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INDOLE RING

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Thank You

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