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Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) Biosynthesis in the Purple Bacteria

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The Purple Phototrophic Bacteria

Part of the book series: Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration ((AIPH,volume 28))

Summary

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin), the antipernicious anemia factor, is unique among the vitamins in that its synthesis is restricted to the prokaryotic world. In fact, cobalamin is made along one of two related biosynthetic pathways, which differ in their timing of cobalt insertion and requirement for molecular oxygen. The purple bacteria appear to utilize, exclusively, the pathway requiring oxygen (aerobic route). In this chapter, the aerobic pathway for cobalamin biosynthesis is described. The biosynthetic pathway for cobalamin is shared, in part, with that for other modified tetrapyrroles such as heme, bacteriochlorophyll and siroheme. Cobalamin biosynthesis diverges from heme and chorophyll at uroporphyrinogen III, the first macrocyclic intermediate of the pathway. The transformation of uroporphyrinogen III into cobalamin requires the addition of eight S-adenosyl-L-methionine derived methyl groups, ring contraction, decarboxylation, amidation, cobalt insertion, adenosylation and the attachment of a lower nucleotide loop that houses an unusual base in the form of dimethylbenzimidazole. In total, around thirty enzymes are required for the complete de novo biosynthesis of the coenzyme form of cobalamin, a coenzyme that appears to be required for a number of cellular activities in the purple bacteria including the formation of the active photosynthetic apparatus.

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Abbreviations

DMB:

5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole

HBA:

hydrogenobyrinic acid

P. :

Pseudomonas

Rba. :

Rhodobacter

SAM:

S-adenosyl-L-methionine

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Protein Science Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NJ, UK

    Martin J. Warren & Evelyne Deery

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  1. Martin J. Warren
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  2. Evelyne Deery
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Correspondence to Martin J. Warren .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sheffield, UK

    C. Neil Hunter

  2. University of Pennsylvania, USA

    Fevzi Daldal

  3. Argonne National Laboratory, USA

    Marion C. Thurnauer

  4. University of British Columbia, Canada

    J. Thomas Beatty

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Warren, M.J., Deery, E. (2009). Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) Biosynthesis in the Purple Bacteria. In: Hunter, C.N., Daldal, F., Thurnauer, M.C., Beatty, J.T. (eds) The Purple Phototrophic Bacteria. Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8815-5_5

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