pyruvate Biochem.
(paɪˈruːveɪt)
[f. pyruvic a. + -ate4.]
1. A salt or ester, or the anion, of pyruvic acid; loosely, denoting either anions or the acid itself.
| 1855 H. Watts tr. Gmelin's Hand-bk. Chem. IX. 419 The Pyruvates are prepared by saturating the dilute acid with the base. 1905 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXXVIII. i. 572 Butyroin..yields a pyruvate which boils at 134–138° under 12 mm. pressure. 1946 Nature 7 Sept. 350/1 Pyruvate accumulates in the blood of thiamin-deficient animals. 1955 Sci. Amer. Jan. 76/2 They [sc. Rickettsiæ] also proved capable of oxidizing slowly two other substances, pyruvate and succinate, which, like glutamic acid, are oxidized by most animal and plant tissues. 1970 Ambrose & Easty Cell Biol. vi. 183 Two molecules of pyruvate are finally produced. Ibid., Normally, muscle respires aerobically, oxidizing pyruvate via the Krebs cycle.., but during violent exercise oxygen cannot reach the tissues fast enough. In this case muscles obtain extra energy by reduction of pyruvic acid to lactic acid. 1970 New Scientist 23 Apr. 168/1 Glycolysis is the process which oxidizes carbohydrates to pyruvate, ready to enter the citric acid cycle and be burnt up completely. 1976 Ann. Rev. Microbiol. XXX. 157 Pyruvate in polysaccharides of R. trifolii, R. meliloti, R. radicicolum, and Pn 27 functions as a major determinant in serological specificity. |
2. Special
Comb.:
pyruvate kinase, any enzyme which catalyses the transfer of a phosphate group between adenosine triphosphate and pyruvic acid;
pyruvate oxidase = pyruvic oxidase.
| 1951 S. P. Colowick in Sumner & Myrbäck Enzymes II. i. xlvi. 123 ‘Creatine kinase’, ‘pyruvate kinase’ and ‘3-phosphoglycerate kinase’ will refer to the respective enzymes which catalyze the reversible reaction of ATP with these substrates. 1970 New Scientist 23 Apr. 168/2 The enzyme pyruvate kinase..is slightly different in liver and kidney from that in other tissues. |
| 1959 Jrnl. Vitaminol. V. 94 Recently, further attempts were made to elucidate whether vitamin B12 activates the pyruvate oxidase system in B12-deficient rats. 1970 Ambrose & Easty Cell Biol. vi. 188 Pyruvate..is first converted to acetyl-coenzyme A by combination with coenzyme A. (Catalysed by pyruvate oxidase.) |