Der Weg von der „aktivierten Essigsäure”︁ zu den Terpenen und Fettsäuren. Nobel‐Vortrag am 11. Dezember 1964

The 1964 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the biosynthesis of cholesterol

“…The complete elucidation of cholesterol biosynthesis was the result of independent but parallel investigations by Feodor Lynen and co‐workers at the University of Munich from 1938 (4) and by Konrad Bloch at Columbia University in New York and Chicago University from 1940 (5). During their studies, Bloch and Lynen were influenced by each other's results.…”

“…While Bloch and his group were studying the schemes for the cyclization of squalene, Lynen and his group resumed their investigations after the end of the war on the role of coenzyme A in the transfer of acetyl groups (4). They demonstrated that this reaction is the consequence of a reversible binding of an acetyl residue to the sulfhydryl group of the coenzyme.…”

“…The coupling energy of the thioester acetyl‐CoA must be the same as that of acetyl phosphate or adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (17). Thus, no existence of energy rich metabolites other than thioesters and ATP were found (4).…”

“…The dimerization of two farnesyl units then results in the formation of squalene. In his Nobel lecture, Lynen summarized the biosynthetic pathway from acetyl‐CoA to cholesterol as shown in Figure 6 (4).…”

“…Lynen's group also discovered that vitamin biotin is bound to different carboxylases, which are involved in the biosynthesis of sterols, and that activated CO 2 is carboxylated biotin (4).…”