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Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex

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  • Page ID
    463

    • 500px-PDH_schema.png
    Figure 1: The process of the PDH. Used with permisison from Wikipedia.

    References

    1. Zubay, Geoffrey. Biochemistry. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1988.
    2. Boyer, Rodney. Concepts in Biochemistry. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2006.

    Problems

    1. How many NADH are generated as products?
    2. How does this process turn pyruvate into acetyl CoA?
    3. Why do we need E3?
    4. Where does this process occur in the cell?
    5. What is the name of the enzyme that transports the pyruvate into the PDH?

    Answers

    1. 2 molecules
    2. Pyruvate decarboxylation
    3. We need E3 to essentially "fix" the E2 after the acetyl CoA is formed. The E2 remains attached to the molecule even after acetyl CoA is formed. Therefore, the E3 must reduce the E2 and restore it to its original form.
    4. The mitochondria
    5. Pyruvate translocase

    Contributors

    • Tiffany Lui, University of California, Davis