Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase

Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (also pyruvate dehydrogenase complex kinase, PDC kinase, or PDK; EC 2.7.11.2) is a kinase enzyme which acts to inactivate the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase by phosphorylating it using ATP.

PDK thus participates in the regulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of which pyruvate dehydrogenase is the first component. Both PDK and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex are located in the mitochondrial matrix of eukaryotes. The complex acts to convert pyruvate (a product of glycolysis in the cytosol) to acetyl-coA, which is then oxidized in the mitochondria to produce energy, in the citric acid cycle. By downregulating the activity of this complex, PDK will decrease the oxidation of pyruvate in mitochondria and increase the conversion of pyruvate to lactate in the cytosol.

The opposite action of PDK, namely the dephosphorylation and activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase, is catalyzed by a phosphoprotein phosphatase called pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase.

(Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase should not be confused with Phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1, which is also sometimes known as "PDK1".)

PDK can phosphorylate a serine residue on pyruvate dehydrogenase at three possible sites. Some evidence has shown that phosphorylation at site 1 will nearly completely deactivate the enzyme while phosphorylation at sites 2 and 3 had only a small contribution to complex inactivation. Therefore, it is phosphorylation at site 1 that is responsible for pyruvate dehydrogenase deactivation.

There are four known isozymes of PDK in humans:

The primary sequencing between the four isozymes are conserved with 70% identity. The greatest differences occur near the N-terminus.

PDK1 is the largest of the four with 436 residues while PDK2, PDK3 and PDK4 have 407, 406, and 411 residues respectively. The isozymes have different activity and phosphorylation rates at each site. At site 1 in order from fastest to slowest, PDK2 > PDK4 ≈ PDK1 > PDK3. For site 2, PDK3 > PDK4 > PDK2 > PDK1. Only PDK1 can phosphorylate site 3. However, it has been shown that these activities are sensitive to slight changes in pH so the microenvironment of the PDK isozymes may change the reaction rates.