Cobalamin biosynthesis

Cobalamin

Cobalamin (vitamin B12) is a structurally complex cofactor, consisting of a modified tetrapyrrole with a centrally chelated cobalt. Cobalamin is usually found in one of two biologically active forms: methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. Most prokaryotes, as well as animals, have cobalamin-dependent enzymes, whereas plants and fungi do not appear to use it. In bacteria and archaea, these enzymes include methionine synthase, ribonucleotide reductase, glutamate and methylmalonyl-CoA mutases, ethanolamine ammonia-lyase, and diol dehydratase. In certain mammals, cobalamin is obtained through the diet, and is required for methionine synthase and methylmalonyl-CoA mutase.

Pathways of cobalamin biosynthesis

There are at least two distinct cobalamin biosynthetic pathways in bacteria:

Either pathway can be divided into two parts:

Proteins involved in cobalamin biosynthesis

There are about 30 enzymes involved in either pathway, where those involved in the aerobic pathway are prefixed Cob and those of the anaerobic pathway Cbi. Several of these enzymes are pathway-specific: CbiD, CbiG, and CbiK are specific to the anaerobic route of S. typhimurium, whereas CobE, CobF, CobG, CobN, CobS, CobT, and CobW are unique to the aerobic pathway of P. denitrificans.

CbiB/CobD

The CbiB or CobD protein converts cobyric acid to cobinamide by the addition of aminopropanol on the F carboxylic group. It is part of the cob operon.

CobT/CobN/CobS

Aerobic cobalt chelatase consists of three subunits, CobT, CobN and CobS. Cobalamin (vitamin B12) can be complexed with metal via the ATP-dependent reactions (aerobic pathway) (e.g., in P. denitrificans) or via ATP-independent reactions (anaerobic pathway) (e.g., in Salmonella typhimurium). The corresponding cobalt chelatases are not homologous. However, aerobic cobalt chelatase subunits CobN and CobS are homologous to Mg-chelatase subunits BchH and BchI, respectively. CobT, too, has been found to be remotely related to the third subunit of Mg-chelatase, BchD (involved in bacteriochlorophyll synthesis, e.g., in Rhodobacter capsulatus).

The CobS protein is a cobalamin-5-phosphate synthase that catyalzes the reactions:

The protein product from these catalyses is associated with a large complex of proteins and is induced by cobinamide. CobS is involved in part III of cobalamin biosynthesis, one of the late steps in adenosylcobalamin synthesis that, together with CobU, CobT, and CobC proteins, defines the nucleotide loop assembly pathway.

CobU

CobU proteins are bifunctional cobalbumin biosynthesis enzymes which display cobinamide kinase and cobinamide phosphate guanyltransferase activity. The crystal structure of the enzyme reveals the molecule to be a trimer with a propeller-like shape.

CobW

CobW proteins are generally found proximal to the trimeric cobaltochelatase subunit CobN, which is essential for vitamin B12 (cobalamin) biosynthesis. They contain a P-loop nucleotide-binding loop in the N-terminal domain and a histidine-rich region in the C-terminal portion suggesting a role in metal binding, possibly as an intermediary between the cobalt transport and chelation systems. CobW might be involved in cobalt reduction leading to cobalt(I) corrinoids. CobW-like proteins include P47K, a Pseudomonas chlororaphis protein needed for nitrile hydratase expression, and urease accessory protein UreG, which acts as a chaperone in the activation of urease upon insertion of nickel into the active site.

CbiA

The CbiA family of proteins consists of various cobyrinic acid a,c-diamide synthases. These include CbiA and CbiP from Salmonella typhimurium., and CobQ from Rhodobacter capsulatus. These amidases catalyse amidations to various side chains of hydrogenobyrinic acid or cobyrinic acid a,c-diamide in the biosynthesis of cobalamin (vitamin B12) from uroporphyrinogen III.

CbiD

CbiD is an essential protein for cobalamin biosynthesis in both Salmonella typhimurium and Bacillus megaterium. A deletion mutant of CbiD suggests that this enzyme is involved in C-1 methylation and deacylation reactions required during the ring contraction process in the anaerobic pathway to cobalamin (similar role as CobF). The CbiD protein has a putative S-AdoMet binding site. CbiD has no counterpart in the aerobic pathway.

CbiG

CbiG proteins are specific for anaerobic cobalamin biosynthesis. CbiG, which shows homology with CobE of the aerobic pathway, participates in the conversion of cobalt-precorrin 5 into cobalt-precorrin 6. CbiG is responsible for the opening of the delta-lactone ring and extrusion of the C2-unit. The aerobic pathway uses molecular oxygen to trigger the events at C-20 leading to contraction and expulsion of the C2-unit as acetic acid from a metal-free intermediate, whereas the anaerobic route involves the internal delivery of oxygen from a carboxylic acid terminus to C-20 followed by extrusion of the C2-unit as acetaldehyde, using cobalt complexes as substrates.

CbiJ

The CbiJ family of proteins includes the CobK and CbiJ precorrin-6x reductases EC 1.3.1.54. In the aerobic pathway, CobK catalyses the reduction of the macrocycle of precorrin-6X to produce precorrin-6Y; while in the anaerobic pathway CbiJ catalyses the reduction of the macrocycle of cobalt-precorrin-6X into cobalt-precorrin-6Y.

CbiM

CbiM is a transmembrane cobalamin transporter.

CbiN

The cobalt transport protein CbiN is part of the active cobalt transport system involved in uptake of cobalt into the cell involved with cobalamin biosynthesis (vitamin B12). It has been suggested that CbiN may function as the periplasmic binding protein component of the active cobalt transport system.

CbiQ

The CbiQ family consists of various cobalt transport proteins Most of which are found in Cobalamin (Vitamin B12) biosynthesis operons. In Salmonella the cbiN cbiQ (product CbiQ in this family) and cbiO are likely to form an active cobalt transport system.

CbiX

The CbiX protein functions as a cobalt-chelatase in the anaerobic biosynthesis of cobalamin. It catalyses the insertion of cobalt into sirohydrochlorin. The structure of CbiX from Archaeoglobus fulgidus consists of a central mixed beta-sheet flanked by four alpha-helices, although it is about half the size of other Class II tetrapyrrole chelatases. The CbiX proteins found in archaea appear to be shorter than those found in eubacteria.

CbiZ

The CbiZ family of proteins includes CbiZ, which is involved in the salvage pathway of cobinamide in archaea. Archaea convert adenosylcobinamide (AdoCbi) into adenosylcobinamide phosphate (AdoCbi-P) in two steps. First, the amidohydrolase activity of CbiZ cleaves off the aminopropanol moiety of AdoCbi yielding adenosylcobyric acid (AdoCby); second, AdoCby is converted into AdoCbi-P by the action of adenosylcobinamide-phosphate synthase (CbiB). Adenosylcobyric acid is an intermediate of the de novo coenzyme B12 biosynthetic route.