Biosynthesis of Methanopterin

9630186白色在生活在我们星球上的不同生物体的进化过程中的某个时候，负责C1单位代谢的载体辅酶的生物化学发生了根本性的分歧。有一组不同的C1载体辅酶，被称为修饰的叶酸，已被发现在结构域的成员。 目前的证据表明，这些修饰的叶酸完全取代了古细菌代谢中的典型叶酸，因此，它们能够进行通常由其他两个域（细菌和真核生物）中的叶酸进行的所有生化反应。 这种用结构修饰的辅酶取代具有相同功能的另一种辅酶是前所未有的，因为已经发现在生物化学反应中使用的辅酶的结构通常是相同的，而不管它们的来源。 这个项目将试图获得答案，为什么这种分歧的C1载体辅酶的结构已经发生。通过研究和比较叶酸生物合成中涉及的反应的细节，特别是研究最多的修饰叶酸之一的生物合成，甲烷蝶呤，这个问题可能会得到回答。 在我们的星球上发现的所有生物都可以分为三个领域：细菌，细菌和真核生物，它们都是从一个共同的祖先进化而来的，几十亿年前。 随着这些不同领域的生物体的进化，它们的新陈代谢出现了主要的基本生物化学差异。 最近发现的这些生化差异之一，新的酶辅因子在古菌，是这个项目的主题。这项研究可能会使我们更好地了解这些差异的起源和生命的早期发展。 ***

9630186 White At some time during the evolution of the different organisms living on our planet, a fundamental divergence occurred in the biochemistry of the carrier coenzymes responsible for the metabolism of C1 units. There are a group of different C1 carrier coenzymes, known as the modified folates, that have been discovered in the members of the domain Archaea. The current evidence indicates that these modified folates completely replace the typical folates in archaeal metabolism and, as a result, they are able to carry out all of the biochemical reactions normally performed by the folates in the other two domains, the Bacteria, and the Eucarya. This substitution of structurally-modified coenzymes for another coenzyme with the same function is unprecedented, since the structures of coenzymes utilized in biochemical reactions have in general been found to be the same regardless of their origin. This project will attempt to obtain answers as to why this divergence in the structures of the C1 carrier coenzymes has occurred. By studying and comparing the details of the reactions involved in the biosynthesis of folates, and especially the biosynthesis of one of the most studied modified folates in the Archaea, methanopterin, this question may be answered. %%% All of the organisms found on our planet are can be divided into three domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya, all of which evolved from a common ancestor, billions of years ago. As the organisms in these different domains evolved, major fundamental biochemical differences in their metabolism arose. The recent discovery of one of these biochemical differences, novel enzyme cofactors in Archae, is the subject of this project. This research that may provide us with a better understanding of the origin of these differences and the early development of life. ***