Flavin adenine dinucleotide

In biochemistry, flavin adenine dinucleotide is a redox-active coenzyme associated with various proteins, which is involved with several enzymatic reactions in metabolism. A flavoprotein is a protein that contains a flavin group, which may be in the form of FAD or flavin mononucleotide. Many flavoproteins are known: components of the succinate dehydrogenase complex, α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, and a component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.
FAD exists in two common oxidation states, the fully oxidized form and the fully reduced, dihydrogenated form, FADH₂. Other oxidation states also exist, including the N-oxide and semiquinone states. FAD, in its fully oxidized form, accepts two electrons and two protons to become FADH₂. The semiquinone can be formed by either reduction of FAD or oxidation of FADH₂ by accepting or donating one electron and one proton, respectively. Some proteins, however, generate and maintain a super oxidized form of the flavin cofactor, the flavin-N-oxide.

History

were first discovered in 1879 by separating components of cow's milk. They were initially called lactochrome due to their milky origin and yellow pigment. It took 50 years for the scientific community to make any substantial progress in identifying the molecules responsible for the yellow pigment. The 1930s launched the field of coenzyme research with the publication of many flavin and nicotinamide derivative structures and their obligate roles in redox catalysis. German scientists Otto Warburg and Walter Christian discovered a yeast derived yellow protein required for cellular respiration in 1932. Their colleague Hugo Theorell separated this yellow enzyme into apoenzyme and yellow pigment, and showed that neither the enzyme nor the pigment was capable of oxidizing NADH on their own, but mixing them together would restore activity. Theorell confirmed the pigment to be riboflavin's phosphate ester, flavin mononucleotide in 1937, which was the first direct evidence for enzyme cofactors. Warburg and Christian then found FAD to be a cofactor of D-amino acid oxidase through similar experiments in 1938. Warburg's work with linking nicotinamide to hydride transfers and the discovery of flavins paved the way for many scientists in the 40s and 50s to discover copious amounts of redox biochemistry and link them together in pathways such as the citric acid cycle and ATP synthesis.

Properties

Flavin adenine dinucleotide consists of two portions: the adenine nucleotide and the flavin mononucleotide bridged together through their phosphate groups. Adenine is bound to a cyclic ribose at the 1' carbon, while phosphate is bound to the ribose at the 5' carbon to form the adenine nucleotide. Riboflavin is formed by a carbon-nitrogen bond between the isoalloxazine and the ribitol. The phosphate group is then bound to the terminal ribose carbon, forming a FMN. Because the bond between the isoalloxazine and the ribitol is not considered to be a glycosidic bond, the flavin mononucleotide is not truly a nucleotide. This makes the dinucleotide name misleading; however, the flavin mononucleotide group is still very close to a nucleotide in its structure and chemical properties.
FAD can be reduced to FADH₂ through the addition of 2 H⁺ and 2 e⁻. FADH₂ can also be oxidized by the loss of 1 H⁺ and 1 e⁻ to form FADH. The FAD form can be recreated through the further loss of 1 H⁺ and 1 e⁻. FAD formation can also occur through the reduction and dehydration of flavin-N-oxide. Based on the oxidation state, flavins take specific colors when in aqueous solution. Flavin-N-oxide is yellow-orange, FAD is yellow, FADH is either blue or red based on the pH, and the fully reduced form is colorless. Changing the form can have a large impact on other chemical properties. For example, FAD, the fully oxidized form is subject to nucleophilic attack, the fully reduced form, FADH₂ has high polarizability, while the half reduced form is unstable in aqueous solution. FAD is an aromatic ring system, whereas FADH₂ is not. This means that FADH₂ is significantly higher in energy, without the stabilization through resonance that the aromatic structure provides. FADH₂ is an energy-carrying molecule, because, once oxidized it regains aromaticity and releases the energy represented by this stabilization.
The spectroscopic properties of FAD and its variants allows for reaction monitoring by use of UV-VIS absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies. Each form of FAD has distinct absorbance spectra, making for easy observation of changes in oxidation state. A major local absorbance maximum for FAD is observed at 450 nm, with an extinction coefficient of 11,300 M⁻¹ cm⁻¹. Flavins in general have fluorescent activity when unbound. This property can be utilized when examining protein binding, observing loss of fluorescent activity when put into the bound state. Oxidized flavins have high absorbances of about 450 nm, and fluoresce at about 515-520 nm.

Chemical states

In biological systems, FAD acts as an acceptor of H⁺ and e⁻ in its fully oxidized form, an acceptor or donor in the FADH form, and a donor in the reduced FADH₂ form. The diagram below summarizes the potential changes that it can undergo.
Along with what is seen above, other reactive forms of FAD can be formed and consumed. These reactions involve the transfer of electrons and the making/breaking of chemical bonds. Through reaction mechanisms, FAD is able to contribute to chemical activities within biological systems. The following pictures depict general forms of some of the actions that FAD can be involved in.
Mechanisms 1 and 2 represent hydride gain, in which the molecule gains what amounts to be one hydride ion. Mechanisms 3 and 4 radical formation and hydride loss. Radical species contain unpaired electron atoms and are very chemically active. Hydride loss is the inverse process of the hydride gain seen before. The final two mechanisms show nucleophilic addition and a reaction using a carbon radical.

Biosynthesis

FAD plays a major role as an enzyme cofactor along with flavin mononucleotide, another molecule originating from riboflavin. Bacteria, fungi and plants can produce riboflavin, but other eukaryotes, such as humans, have lost the ability to make it. Therefore, humans must obtain riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, from dietary sources. Riboflavin is generally ingested in the small intestine and then transported to cells via carrier proteins. Riboflavin kinase adds a phosphate group to riboflavin to produce flavin mononucleotide, and then FAD synthetase attaches an adenine nucleotide; both steps require ATP. Bacteria generally have one bi-functional enzyme, but archaea and eukaryotes usually employ two distinct enzymes. Current research indicates that distinct isoforms exist in the cytosol and mitochondria. It seems that FAD is synthesized in both locations and potentially transported where needed.

Function

Flavoproteins utilize the unique and versatile structure of flavin moieties to catalyze difficult redox reactions. Since flavins have multiple redox states they can participate in processes that involve the transfer of either one or two electrons, hydrogen atoms, or hydronium ions. The N5 and C4a of the fully oxidized flavin ring are also susceptible to nucleophilic attack. This wide variety of ionization and modification of the flavin moiety can be attributed to the isoalloxazine ring system and the ability of flavoproteins to drastically perturb the kinetic parameters of flavins upon binding, including flavin adenine dinucleotide.
The number of flavin-dependent protein encoded genes in the genome is species dependent and can range from 0.1% - 3.5%, with humans having 90 flavoprotein encoded genes. FAD is the more complex and abundant form of flavin and is reported to bind to 75% of the total flavoproteome and 84% of human encoded flavoproteins. Cellular concentrations of free or non-covalently bound flavins in a variety of cultured mammalian cell lines were reported for FAD and FMN.
FAD has a more positive reduction potential than NAD+ and is a very strong oxidizing agent. The cell utilizes this in many energetically difficult oxidation reactions such as dehydrogenation of a C-C bond to an alkene. FAD-dependent proteins function in a large variety of metabolic pathways including electron transport, DNA repair, nucleotide biosynthesis, beta-oxidation of fatty acids, amino acid catabolism, as well as synthesis of other cofactors such as CoA, CoQ and heme groups. One well-known reaction is part of the citric acid cycle ; succinate dehydrogenase requires covalently bound FAD to catalyze the oxidation of succinate to fumarate by coupling it with the reduction of ubiquinone to ubiquinol. The high-energy electrons from this oxidation are stored momentarily by reducing FAD to FADH₂. FADH₂ then reverts to FAD, sending its two high-energy electrons through the electron transport chain; the energy in FADH₂ is enough to produce 1.5 equivalents of ATP by oxidative phosphorylation. Some redox flavoproteins non-covalently bind to FAD like Acetyl-CoA-dehydrogenases which are involved in beta-oxidation of fatty acids and catabolism of amino acids like leucine, isoleucine,, valine, and lysine. Additional examples of FAD-dependent enzymes that regulate metabolism are glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and xanthine oxidase involved in purine nucleotide catabolism. Noncatalytic functions that FAD can play in flavoproteins include as structural roles, or involved in blue-sensitive light photoreceptors that regulate biological clocks and development, generation of light in bioluminescent bacteria.