Biochemistry - The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells Volume 2 - D. Metzler 1980

Coenzymes — special naturally occurring specialized reagents
Coenzyme A and phosphopantetheine
Acyl carrier proteins and phosphopantetheine

Fatty acid synthesis requires a small acyl carrier protein (ACP)—in *E. coli*, its molecular weight is 8,700—whose Functions are analogous to those of CoA. However, acyl carrier Proteins lack the nucleotide 'handle' of the coenzyme; instead, phosphopantetheine-4'-phosphate is covalently attached via a phosphoester bond directly to a Serine residue of the ACP (in *E. coli*, to the Ser-36 residue in a polypeptide containing 77 amino acid residues [2, 3]). As we can see, the nucleotide 'handle' of CoA in the ACP is replaced by a significantly larger and more complex protein that undoubtedly interacts selectively with the multienzyme complex responsible for fatty acid synthesis (Chap. 11, Sec. B,4).

Bound phosphopantetheine has also been detected in the citrate-cleaving enzyme [equation (7-72)] and in Enzymes involved in the synthesis of peptide Antibiotics (Chap. 11, Section D, 1, a).



Last update: 06/08/2026

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