The Citrate Sonata
(To the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen")
Copyright 2008 Taralyn Tan
I am very pleased that Mr. Tim Karplus has made a professional recording of this song (complete song downloadable HERE) and others can be downloaded HERE. You will need to unzip the file to release the MP3. I am providing all songs for free download, but hope you will support this effort by purchasing my Metabolic Melody albums or calendar at the URLs at the bottom of the lyrics to this song.
Our fats and carbs get broken down
To acetyl CoA
Oxaloacetate combines
In cycles TCA
The product of reaction one
Oh, citrate is its name
Iso-citrate, the product that
ensues
Atoms got moved
Isocitrate is the product of step
two
An oxidation soon occurs
Reducing NAD
An alpha-ketoglutarate
Resulting from step three
From here we could make glutamate
That is, if thereÕs a need
DonÕt forget that we lost a CO2
Yes it is true
In reaction three we lost a CO2
So whatÕs the point of all these steps?
Well, let me tell you, friend
We use electron carriers
In working towards our end
Of synthesizing ATP
(A metabolic trend)
Oxidize, and then oxidize some more
Here in step four
Ketoglutarate gets oxidized some
more
The enzyme with cofactors five
Including TPP
Lipoate, FAD, CoA
And also NAD
A succinyl thatÕs on CoA
Is what gets made, you see
This reaction occurs so favÕrably
DonÕt you agree?
ItÕs a good reaction energetically
With four more steps, weÕre halfway there
So let me summarize
When CoAÕs lost we see that G-
T-P is synthesized
The succinate that is produced
Will soon get oxidized
FAD goes to FADH2
What did we do?
We made fumarate and FADH2
Add water Ôcross the double bond
And malate we create
With one last NAD we can
Then dehydrogenate
To give a final product of
Oxaloacetate
ItÕs removed, and this lowers Delta G
Oh yes, indeed
ItÕs through pulling that this last step can proceed
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