What the papers say: Metabolic compartmentation and ?soluble? metabolic pathways

Isotopic methods for probing organization of cellular metabolism

These examples serve to illustrate that it is now possible to investigate metabolism in intact tissues using a variety of biophysical methods. While we have concentrated on NMR methods, reflecting our own interests in using 13C as a metabolic tracer, GC-mass spectroscopy can often provide similar metabolic information and has the advantage of increased sensitivity over NMR. Combining either or both of these technologies with cleaver 'chemical biopsy' methods offers new opportunities to examine what may seem to be old metabolic questions in a much more relevant environment, the native state.

Compartmentation of carbohydrate metabolism in vascular smooth muscle

In vascular smooth muscle, oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis are independently regulated. Previous studies indicated that the independent regulation of these pathways was related to a compartmentation of carbohydrate metabolism. To further study carbohydrate metabolism, glucose transport and the incorporation of radiolabel from glucose into glycogen and lactate were measured after the oxidative and glycolytic pathways were independently altered. Ouabain stimulated mechanical activity, oxygen consumption, and glycogenolysis, whereas lactate production was decreased. Although glycogenolysis was substantial, glucose was the only substrate for lactate, indicating that intermediates derived from glycogen do not mix with those from glucose uptake. Thus glycogenolysis and glycolysis are carried out by independent enzymatic pathways. Insulin-stimulated lactate production and glucose transport without affecting the other parameters. Again, lactate was produced only from glucose. Phenytoin decreased isometric tension and oxygen consumption, whereas stimulating lactate production and glycogenolysis. Glycogen was the primary substrate for the lactate produced. Our findings indicate that the compartmentation of substrate utilization is ascribable to the coordination of glycogenolysis with increases in oxygen consumption and the coupling of glycolysis to the Na-K-adenosine triphosphatase. The coupling of independent energy providing pathways to specific endergonic processes indicates a mechanism by which cellular energetic efficiency may be optimized.

Organization of citric acid cycle enzymes into a multienzyme cluster

The possibility that some of the enzymes of the citric acid cycle may be loosely associated into a multienzyme cluster has been investigated using extracts prepared by gentle disruption of cells. Gel filtration and sucrose density gradient centrifugation have shown that five sequential enzymes of the cycle specifically associate into a cluster: fumarase, malate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, aconitase and isocitrate dehydrogenase. Ultrasonication destroys the abilities of the enzymes to associate. The cluster could catalyse the sequence of reactions leading from fumarate to oxoglutarate and has been found in extracts of several bacterial species as well as rat liver mitochondria.