Saccharopine is an intermediate in the metabolism of amino acid lysine. It is a precursor of lysine in the alpha-aminoadipate pathway which occurs in fungi and euglenids. In mammals and seed plants saccharopine is an intermediate in the degradation of lysine, formed by condensation of lysine and alpha-ketoglutarate.
Saccharopinuria (high amounts of saccharopine in the urine) and saccharopinemia (an excess of saccharopine in the blood) are conditions present in some inherited disorders of lysine degradation.[4]
History
Saccharopine was first isolated in 1961 from baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, hence the name) by Darling and Larsen.[5]
↑Vashishtha AK, West AH, Cook PF (June 2009). "Chemical mechanism of saccharopine reductase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae". Biochemistry. 48 (25): 5899–907. doi:10.1021/bi900599s. PMID19449898.
↑Higashino, K. (1998). "Saccharopinuria (a variant form of familial hyperlysinemia)". Ryoikibetsu Shokogun Shirizu (18 Pt 1): 191–4. PMID9590025.
↑Darling, S., and Larsen, P. O., Saccharopine, a new amino acid in Baker's and Brewer's yeast: I. Isolation and properties. Acta Chem. Scand., 15, 743 (1961).
![Stereo, skeletal formula of saccharopine ((2S)-2-{[(5S)-5-aminopentyl]amino})](?wiki_title=File:Saccharopine.svg)
