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Updated: Sep 28, 2025

Quantification of Coenzyme A in Cells and Tissues
Published on: September 27, 2019
Protein cost minimization promotes the emergence of coenzyme redundancy
Joshua E Goldford1,2,3, Ashish B George4,5,6, Avi I Flamholz7
1Physics of Living Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Abstract:
SignificanceMetabolism relies on a small class of molecules (coenzymes) that serve as universal donors and acceptors of key chemical groups and electrons. Although metabolic networks crucially depend on structurally redundant coenzymes [e.g., NAD(H) and NADP(H)] associated with different enzymes, the criteria that led to the emergence of this redundancy remain poorly understood. Our combination of modeling and structural and sequence analysis indicates that coenzyme redundancy may not be essential for metabolism but could rather constitute an evolved strategy promoting efficient usage of enzymes when biochemical reactions are near equilibrium. Our work suggests that early metabolism may have operated with fewer coenzymes and that adaptation for metabolic efficiency may have driven the rise of coenzyme diversity in living systems.
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