Branched-chain aminotransferase (BCAT)
Cofactors used
What it does, reaction by reaction
Amino Acid Catabolism Overview (glucogenic vs. ketogenic amino acids; brief overview of branched-chain amino acid catabolism and phenylalanine/tyrosine catabolism as representative examples) Amino Acid & Nitrogen Metabolism · Cytosol + mitochondrion
Leucine/isoleucine/valine + α-ketoglutarate ⇌ their respective branched-chain α-keto acids + glutamate
Converts Alpha-ketoglutarate into Glutamate
› Notes
BCAT catalyzes the PLP-dependent, reversible first step of BCAA catabolism, mainly in extrahepatic tissues such as skeletal muscle. Leucine yields α-ketoisocaproate, isoleucine yields α-keto-β-methylvalerate, and valine yields α-ketoisovalerate.
Transamination Amino Acid & Nitrogen Metabolism · Cytosol + mitochondrion
Branched-chain amino acid + α-ketoglutarate ⇌ branched-chain α-keto acid + L-glutamate
Converts Alpha-ketoglutarate into Glutamate
› Notes
Branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase (BCAT; PLP-dependent) initiates leucine, isoleucine, and valine catabolism. This reaction is prominent in skeletal muscle, which expresses BCAT but has relatively little hepatic BCAT activity.
Showing all 2 reactions.
What accelerates and inhibits it
Regulation is pathway-specific, so each context is listed separately
No regulation recorded for this enzyme in the source documents.
Recent literature
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