My biochemistry professor is an interesting guy. Turns out he worked under Krebs and Fisher - as in the Krebs Cycle, the elegant metabolic pathway that underpins all of aerobic respiration. That Krebs. Unrelatedly, this professor has a bunny funny way of denoting CO2 groups:
TIL: Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) is a component of coenzyme A.
The pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme complex is a beast of a molecular collection - over 60 total copies of 3-5 different enzymes each with its own prosthetic group. Vitamin B1 (thiamine) is a component of one of these prosthetic groups (thiamine pyrophosphate) and its deficiency, typically only in underdeveloped countries or ye olde sailors, causes the condition known as beri-beri.
If you'd like a good excuse not to exercise, McArdle disease might be for you! The disease is caused by a defective muscle enzyme (glycogen phosphorylase) which normally breaks down the energy storage molecule glycogen into usable energy in the form of glucose 6-phosphate. This energy is what your muscles use at the beginning of exercise. Without this energy, people with McArdle disease experience debilitatingly painful cramps when they start any exercise. The tiny silver lining is that they can actually push through the pain and continue exercising fine thanks to the lipid-based energy that kicks in as a "second wind."
The pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme complex is a beast of a molecular collection - over 60 total copies of 3-5 different enzymes each with its own prosthetic group. Vitamin B1 (thiamine) is a component of one of these prosthetic groups (thiamine pyrophosphate) and its deficiency, typically only in underdeveloped countries or ye olde sailors, causes the condition known as beri-beri.
No comments:
Post a Comment