Work

Converging on a mechanism for choline degradation

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: In PNAS, Craciun and Balskus (1) combine biochemical intuition with modern genome mining techniques to discover the elusive enzyme responsible for catalyzing the degradation of choline (1, Scheme 1). Choline is an essential nutrient in higher organisms that is required for the biosynthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and the head group of several phospholipids, and that serves as a source of the methyl groups for methionine and S-adenosylmethionine (2). In humans and other mammals, choline is catabolized to trimethylamine (TMA; 2, Scheme 1) by symbiotic gut microbes, and irregularities in choline and TMA metabolism have been linked to liver and cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, and deficiencies in fetal brain development (3–5). TMA derived from choline is also a substrate for methanogenesis by marine microorganisms and, as such, contributes to global production of the greenhouse gas methane.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219534110

Authors: Christopher J. Thibodeaux, Wilfred A. van der Donk

Institutions: Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Language: English

Topic: Amino Acid Enzymes and Metabolism

Subfield: Biochemistry

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: Howard Hughes Medical Institute