Why pyridoxal phosphate could be a functional predecessor of thiamine pyrophosphate and speculations on a primordial metabolism

authored by

Andreas Kirschning

Abstract

The account attempts to substantiate the hypothesis that, from an evolutionary perspective, the coenzyme couple pyridoxal phosphate and pyridoxamine phosphate preceded the coenzyme thiamine pyrophosphate and acted as its less efficient chemical analogue in some form of early metabolism. The analysis combines mechanism-based chemical reactivity with biosynthetic arguments and provides evidence that vestiges of “TPP-like reactivity” are still found for PLP today. From these thoughts, conclusions can be drawn about the key elements of a primordial form of metabolism, which includes the citric acid cycle, amino acid biosynthesis and the pentose phosphate pathway.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Organic Chemistry

External Organisation(s)

Uppsala University

Type

Review article

Journal

RSC Chemical Biology

Volume

5

Pages

508-517

No. of pages

10

Publication date

2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry (miscellaneous), Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1039/d4cb00016a (Access: Open)