Physiology
Vitamin K1, the precursor of most vitamin K in nature, is a steroisomer of phylloquinone, an important chemical in green plants, where it functions as an electron accepter in photosystem I during photosynthesis. For this reason, vitamin K1 is found in large quantities in the photosynthetic tissues of plants (green leaves, and dark green leafy vegetables such as romaine lettuce, kale and spinach), but it occurs in far smaller quantities in other plant tissues (roots, fruits, etc.). Iceberg lettuce contains relative little. The function of phylloquinone in plants appears to have no resemblance to its later metabolic and biochemical function (as "vitamin K") in animals, where it performs a completely different biochemical reaction.
Vitamin K (in animals) is involved in the carboxylation of certain glutamate residues in proteins to form gamma-carboxyglutamate (Gla) residues. The modified residues are often (but not always) situated within specific protein domains called Gla domains. Gla residues are usually involved in binding calcium, and are essential for the biological activity of all known Gla proteins.
At this time, 15 human proteins with Gla domains have been discovered, and they play key roles in the regulation of three physiological processes:
- Blood coagulation: prothrombin (factor II), factors VII, IX, and X, and proteins C, S, and Z
- Bone metabolism: osteocalcin, also called bone Gla protein (BGP), matrix Gla protein (MGP), and periostin.
- Vascular biology: growth arrest-specific protein 6 (Gas6)
- Unknown function: proline-rich g-carboxy glutamyl proteins (PRGPs) 1 and 2, and transmembrane g-carboxy glutamyl proteins (TMGs) 3 and 4.
Like other lipid-soluble vitamins (A, D, E), vitamin K is stored in the fat tissue of the human body.
Read more about this topic: Vitamin K
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