SBS-713

Archaea, the third domain of life

Metabolism and Metabolic enzymes in

Archaea

Dr. Mehwish Aslam Lecture 3

Last lecture
• Archaeal timeline
• How Archaea survive in extreme environment
• Bacteria and Archaea – Differences
• Archaeal cell wall
• Archaeal cell membrane
Metabolism
• Central Metabolism - links catabolism and anabolism
• The degradative pathways by which these nutrients are metabolized are
known as “catabolic” routes,
• whereas the biosynthetic pathways are referred to as “anabolic” routes.
• Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya - metabolism variations are observed that
reflect different lifestyles and requirements.
• The conventional Embden-Meyerhof (EM) pathway is perhaps the most
widely recognized
• There is considerable variability in the route of glucose catabolism in different organisms,
• Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway was revealed in Pseudomonas
saccharophila in 1952
• Organisms from all three domains of life have been shown to possess ED-
type pathways, often alongside the EM pathway.
Archaeal Metabolism
• The conversion of sugars to pyruvate, and
• then the metabolic fate of pyruvate,
• Either to organic end products
• Or to CO2 by complete oxidation via the citric acid cycle.
• Growth on acetate as this may involve in an additional cyclic
pathway, the glyoxylate cycle.
• The catabolism of amino acids
• In the Archaea, EM and ED pathways, and variations and
combinations thereof, represent the predominant routes for
glucose catabolism.
Metabolism of Monosaccharides to Pyruvate
• All three domains of life have the ability to metabolize glucose to pyruvate.
• regardless of whether an organism grows anaerobically or aerobically, heterotrophically or auto-
trophically, or whether it employs fermentative metabolism.
• There is considerable variability in the route of glucose catabolism in different organisms
ENO, enolase
FBPA, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase
GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
GAPN, nonphosphorylating
GAPOR, GAP:Fd oxidoreductase
GLK, glucose kinase
HK, hexokinase
PEPS, PEP synthetase
PFK, phosphofructokinase
PGI, phosphoglucose isomerase
cPGI, cupin-type phosphoglucose isomerase
PGAM, phosphoglycerate mutase
PK, pyruvate kinase
PPDK, pyruvate:phosphate dikinase
ROK, hexokinase of the repressor protein
PGI/PMI, phosphoglucose isomerase/
phosphomannose isomerase
G6P, glucose 6-phosphate
F6P, fructose 6-phosphate
F1,6BP, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate
DHAP, dihydroxyacetone phosphate
GAP, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate
1,3BPG, 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate
3PG, 3-phosphoglycerate
2PG, 2-phosphoglycerate