Biosynthesis
Coenzyme A is synthesized in a five-step process from pantothenate and cysteine:
- Pantothenate (vitamin B5) is phosphorylated to 4'-phosphopantothenate by the enzyme pantothenate kinase (PanK; CoaA; CoaX)
- A cysteine is added to 4'-phosphopantothenate by the enzyme phosphopantothenoylcysteine synthetase (PPC-DC; CoaB) to form 4'-phospho-N-pantothenoylcysteine (PPC)
- PPC is decarboxylated to 4'-phosphopantetheine by phosphopantothenoylcysteine decarboxylase (CoaC)
- 4'-phosphopantetheine is adenylylated to form dephospho-CoA by the enzyme phosphopantetheine adenylyl transferase (CoaD)
- Finally, dephospho-CoA is phosphorylated using ATP to coenzyme A by the enzyme dephosphocoenzyme A kinase (CoaE).
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