Pyruvate carboxylase (PC) encoded by the gene PC is an enzyme (EC 6.4.1.1) of the ligase class that catalyzes (depending on the species) the physiologically irreversible carboxylation of pyruvate to form oxaloacetate (OAA).
The reaction it catalyzes is:
pyruvate + HCO−3 + ATP → oxaloacetate + ADP + P It is an important anaplerotic reaction that creates oxaloacetate from pyruvate. PC contains a biotin prosthetic group and is typically localized to the mitochondria in eukaryotes with exceptions to some fungal species such as Aspergillus nidulans which have a cytosolic PC. PC requires magnesium and zinc or manganese for catalysis. PC from different organisms exhibit varying degrees of activation by acetyl-CoA, but vertebrate PC typically requires it for activity. Pyruvate carboxylase was first discovered in 1959 at Case Western Reserve University by M. F. Utter and D. B. Keech. Since then it has been found in a wide variety of prokaryotes and eukaryotes including fungi, bacteria, and animals. In mammals, PC plays a crucial role in gluconeogenesis and lipogenesis, in the biosynthesis of neurotransmitters, and in glucose-induced insulin secretion by pancreatic islets. Oxaloacetate produced by PC is an important intermediate, which is used in these biosynthetic pathways. In mammals, PC is expressed in a tissue-specific manner, with its activity found to be highest in the liver and kidney (gluconeogenic tissues), in adipose tissue and lactating mammary gland (lipogenic tissues), and in pancreatic islets. Activity is moderate in brain, heart and adrenal gland, and least in white blood cells and skin fibroblasts.
Structure Structural studies of PC have been conducted by electron microscopy, by limited proteolysis, and by cloning and gasa sequencing of genes and cDNA encoding the enzyme. Most well characterized forms of active PC consist of four identical subunits arranged in a tetrahedron-like structure. Each subunit contains a single biotin moiety acting as a swinging arm to transport carbon dioxide to the catalytic site that is formed at the interface between adjacent monomers. Each subunit of the functional tetramer contains four domains: the biotin carboxylation (BC) domain, the transcarboxylation (CT) domain, the biotin carboxyl carrier (BCCP) domain and the recently termed PC tetramerization (PT) domain. From the two most complete crystal structures available, an asymmetric and symmetric form of the protein have been visualized. The Staphylococcus aureus tetramer in complex with the activator coenzyme A is highly symmetric, possessing 222 symmetry, and has been confirmed by cryo-EM studies. In contrast the Rhizobium etli, tetramer in complex with ethyl-CoA, a non-hydrolyzable analog of acetyl-CoA, possesses only one line of symmetry.
Pyruvate carboxylase uses a covalently attached biotin cofactor which is used to catalyze the ATP– dependent carboxylation of pyruvate to oxaloacetate in two steps. Biotin is initially carboxylated at the BC active site by ATP and bicarbonate. The carboxyl group is subsequently transferred by carboxybiotin to a second active site in the CT domain, where pyruvate is carboxylated to generate oxaloacetate. The BCCP domain transfers the tethered cofactor between the two remote active sites. The allosteric binding site in PC offers a target for modifiers of activity that may be useful in the treatment of obesity or type II diabetes, and the mechanistic insights gained from the complete structural description of RePC (R. etli) permit detailed investigations into the individual catalytic and regulatory sites of the enzyme.
Reaction mechanism
The reaction mechanism can be subdivided into two partial reactions (see figure to the right). In the first reaction, ATP is carboxylated to produce carbonic phosphoric anhydride [−O(−O)P(=O)O–C(=O)O−] which in turn carboxylates a biotin cofactor that is covalently attached to a lysine residue of the BCCP domain. Carbonic phosphoric anhydride decomposes into carbon dioxide and phosphate prior to attack by the enzyme linked biotin molecule. In most species, this reaction requires acetyl-CoA as an allosteric activator binding to the PT domain. In the second reaction, occurring in the CT domain of an adjacent monomer, carbon dioxide is transferred to the acceptor molecule, pyruvate, to form oxaloacetate. The reaction proceeds via the removal of a proton from pyruvate, by an as yet unidentified active site residue, to generate an enolate intermediate. The enolate intermediate then attacks CO2 transiently released from the enzyme linked biotin molecule. The resultant oxaloacetate is released. The biotin molecule is protonated by the aforementioned active site residue and released from the active site of the CT domain to be recarboxylated. The major regulator of enzyme activity, acetyl-CoA, stimulates the cleavage of ATP in the first partial reaction and also it has been shown to induce a conformational change in the tetrameric structure of the enzyme.
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