Transketolase proteins or transketolase enzyme activities have been related to neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Transketolase enzyme variants and reduced transketolase enzyme activities are present in patients with the neurodegenerative disease Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. In Alzheimer's disease patients transketolase protein variants with different isoelectric points or a prot...

derivatives of phenyl-keto butenoic acids have been reported to be inhibitors of pyruvate decarboxylase, (pdc). the inhibition of transketolase, a thiamine requiring enzyme such as pdf, by meta nitrophenyl derivative of 2-oxo-3-butenoic acid (mnpb) is reported here. these studies indicate that the inhibitor binds to the enzyme at the active site. a two-step inhibition was observed, first the in...

This review highlights recent research on the properties and functions of the enzyme transketolase, which requires thiamin diphosphate and a divalent metal ion for its activity. The transketolase-catalysed reaction is part of the pentose phosphate pathway, where transketolase appears to control the non-oxidative branch of this pathway, although the overall flux of labelled substrates remains co...

BACKGROUND Tumor cells need large energy and nucleic acids to proliferate and grow. For most of their energy needs, cancer cells depend more on glycolysis. For most of their nucleic acids needs, cancer cells depend more on the nonoxidative pathway of the pentose phosphate pathway. Transketolase(TKT) is a crucial enzyme in the nonoxidative pathway of the PPP. METHODS The real-time quantity PCR...

The enzyme transketolase (sedoheptulose-7-phosphate:D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate glycolaldehydetransferase, EC 2.2.1.1) is involved in the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) and catalyses the transfer of a 2-carbon fragment from a 5-carbon keto sugar (xylulose-5-P) to a 5-carbon aldo sugar (ribose-5-P) to form a 7-carbon keto sugar (sedoheptulose-7-P) and a 3-carbon aldo sugar (glyceraldehyde-3-P)...

The nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway allows glucose conversion to ribose for DNA or RNA synthesis and glucose degradation to lactate controlled by transketolase enzyme reactions. It has been postulated, that this pathway is of the utmost importance in tumors for the proliferation process. We detected a strong upregulation of the mutated transketolase transcript (TKTL1) in a considerable n...

BACKGROUND Rhodopseudomonas palustris (R. palustris) is a purple non-sulfur anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium that belongs to the class of proteobacteria. It is capable of absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide and converting it to biomass via the process of photosynthesis and the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle. Transketolase is a key enzyme involved in the CBB cycle. Here, we reveal the funct...

Transketolase is an enzyme involved in a critical step of the non-oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway whose inhibition could lead to new anticancer drugs. Here, we report new human transketolase inhibitors, based on the phenyl urea scaffold, found by applying structure-based virtual screening. These inhibitors are designed to cover a hot spot in the dimerization interface of the h...

Over 80 years ago, Warburg identified a particular metabolic pathway in carcinomas characterised by the anaerobic degradation of glucose even in the presence of oxygen that leads to the production of large amounts of lactate (known as the Warburg effect). Now, widespread clinical use of positron-emission tomography (PET) has confirmed that there exists enhanced glucose degradation in tumors. Re...

Transketolase mutants have been identified that accept aromatic acceptors with good stereoselectivities, in particular benzaldehyde for which the wild type enzyme showed no activity.