From Protein Folding to Blood Coagulation: Menaquinone as a Metabolic Link between Bacteria and Mammals

Abstract

Menaquinones have long played a central role in bacterial metabolism due to their solubility in membranes and their ability to mediate electron transfer reactions between a large variety of enzymes. In addition to acting as important nodes in fermentation and respiration, menaquinones are critical to the formation of disulphide bonds in the periplasm. Their utility as molecular wires has also led to their incorporation into redox reactions in higher-order organisms, where they participate in numerous physiological processes, including blood coagulation. Through studying the menaquinone-dependent pathways in organisms across the phylogenetic spectrum, researchers have begun to uncover intriguing metabolic links and have identified novel compounds for modulating these vital pathways.

Genome‐wide expression reveals multiple systemic effects associated with detection of anticoagulant poisons in bobcats (Lynx rufus)

“…Immune‐related terms included positive regulation of immune response, T‐cell differentiation, thymocyte aggregation and T‐cell receptor signalling (Figure b; Table ). Notably, we also observed upregulation of UbiA prenyltransferase domain containing 1 UBIAD1 (β = .38; Q = .032), a mammalian gene involved in the biosynthesis of vitamin K2 (Meehan & Beckwith, ; Nakagawa et al., ), as well as several genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism including cytochrome P450 family 2 subfamily U member 1 ( CYP2U1 : β = .35; Q = .016), ATP‐binding cassette subfamily B member 1 ( ABCB1 : β = .52; Q = .015), carbohydrate sulfotransferase 2 ( CHST2 : β = .65; Q = .013) and heparan sulphate‐glucosamine 3‐sulfotransferase 1 ( HS3ST1 : β = .64; Q = .039). These results suggest that ARs may activate the adaptive immune system as well as processes associated with xenobiotic metabolism and, potentially, responses to vitamin K deficiency.…”

Rewilding the Microbiome of Insectary Reared Mosquitoes: Introducing an Environmental Microbiome to Axenic Aedes aegypti

“…Thus, there may be an advantage for mosquitoes that receive bacterial derived menaquinones (vitamin K 2 ) with their blood meal. The K vitamins have been likened to a "metabolic link between bacteria and mammals" [45]; here we posit that vitamin K should be investigated as a metabolic link between bacteria and mosquito blood digestion.…”