Phosphoenolpyruvic acid (PEP), or phosphoenolpyruvate as the anion, is an important chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

 in biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

. It has the high-energy phosphate bond found (-61.9 kJ/mol) in living organisms, and is involved in glycolysis

Glycolysis

Glycolysis is the metabolic pathway that converts glucose C6H12O6, into pyruvate, CH3COCOO− + H+...

 and gluconeogenesis

Gluconeogenesis

Gluconeogenesis is a metabolic pathway that results in the generation of glucose from non-carbohydrate carbon substrates such as lactate, glycerol, and glucogenic amino acids....

. In plants, it is also involved in the biosynthesis of various aromatic compounds, and in carbon fixation

Carbon fixation

In biology, carbon fixation is the reduction of carbon dioxide to organic compounds by living organisms. The obvious example is photosynthesis. Carbon fixation requires both a source of energy such as sunlight, and an electron donor such as water. All life depends on fixed carbon. Organisms that...

; in bacteria, it is also used as the source of energy for the phosphotransferase system.

In glycolysis

PEP is formed by the action of the enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 enolase

Enolase

Enolase, also known as phosphopyruvate dehydratase, is a metalloenzyme responsible for the catalysis of the conversion of 2-phosphoglycerate to phosphoenolpyruvate , the ninth and penultimate step of glycolysis. Enolase belongs to the class Lyase. Enolase can also catalyze the reverse reaction,...

 on 2-phosphoglycerate

2-Phosphoglycerate

2-Phosphoglyceric acid , or 2-phosphoglycerate, is a glyceric acid which serves as the substrate in the ninth step of glycolysis. It is catalyzed by enolase into phosphoenolpyruvate , the penultimate step in the conversion of glucose to pyruvate.-In Glycolysis: -References:...

. Metabolism of PEP to pyruvate by pyruvate kinase

Pyruvate kinase

Pyruvate kinase is an enzyme involved in glycolysis. It catalyzes the transfer of a phosphate group from phosphoenolpyruvate to ADP, yielding one molecule of pyruvate and one molecule of ATP.-Reaction:The reaction with pyruvate kinase:...

 (PK) generates 1 molecule of adenosine triphosphate

Adenosine triphosphate

Adenosine-5'-triphosphate is a multifunctional nucleoside triphosphate used in cells as a coenzyme. It is often called the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer. ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism...

 (ATP) via substrate-level phosphorylation

Substrate-level phosphorylation

Substrate-level phosphorylation is a type of metabolism that results in the formation and creation of adenosine triphosphate or guanosine triphosphate by the direct transfer and donation of a phosphoryl group to adenosine diphosphate or guanosine diphosphate from a phosphorylated reactive...

. ATP is one of the major currencies of chemical energy within cell

Cell (biology)

The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....

s.

In gluconeogenesis

PEP is formed from the decarboxylation

Decarboxylation

Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide . Usually, decarboxylation refers to a reaction of carboxylic acids, removing a carbon atom from a carbon chain. The reverse process, which is the first chemical step in photosynthesis, is called carbonation, the addition of CO2 to...

 of oxaloacetate and hydrolysis

Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which molecules of water are split into hydrogen cations and hydroxide anions in the process of a chemical mechanism. It is the type of reaction that is used to break down certain polymers, especially those made by condensation polymerization...

 of one guanosine triphosphate

Guanosine triphosphate

Guanosine-5'-triphosphate is a purine nucleoside triphosphate. It can act as a substrate for the synthesis of RNA during the transcription process...

 molecule. This reaction is catalyzed

Catalysis

Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....

 by the enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase is an enzyme in the lyase family used in the metabolic pathway of gluconeogenesis. It converts oxaloacetate into phosphoenolpyruvate and carbon dioxide.It is found in two forms, cytosolic and mitochondrial....

 (PEPCK). This reaction is a rate-limiting step in gluconeogenesis:

GTP + oxaloacetate → GDP + phosphoenolpyruvate + CO₂

In plants

PEP may be used for the synthesis of chorismate through the shikimate pathway. Chorismate may then be metabolized into the aromatic amino acid

Amino acid

Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...

s (phenylalanine

Phenylalanine

Phenylalanine is an α-amino acid with the formula C6H5CH2CHCOOH. This essential amino acid is classified as nonpolar because of the hydrophobic nature of the benzyl side chain. L-Phenylalanine is an electrically neutral amino acid, one of the twenty common amino acids used to biochemically form...

, tryptophan

Tryptophan

Tryptophan is one of the 20 standard amino acids, as well as an essential amino acid in the human diet. It is encoded in the standard genetic code as the codon UGG...

 and tyrosine

Tyrosine

Tyrosine or 4-hydroxyphenylalanine, is one of the 22 amino acids that are used by cells to synthesize proteins. Its codons are UAC and UAU. It is a non-essential amino acid with a polar side group...

) and other aromatic compounds.

In addition, in C₄ plants, PEP serves as an important substrate

Substrate (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...

 in carbon fixation

Carbon fixation

In biology, carbon fixation is the reduction of carbon dioxide to organic compounds by living organisms. The obvious example is photosynthesis. Carbon fixation requires both a source of energy such as sunlight, and an electron donor such as water. All life depends on fixed carbon. Organisms that...

. The chemical equation, as catalyzed by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase is an enzyme in the family of carboxy-lyases that catalyzes the addition of bicarbonate to phosphoenolpyruvate to form the four-carbon compound oxaloacetate:This reaction is used for carbon fixation in so-called "CAM" and "C4" plants where it plays a key role in...

(PEP carboxylase), is:

PEP + HCO₃^- → oxaloacetate