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Biomedical Basics

Vitamins and cofactors in metabolism

  • Created by Henry Stewart Talks
Published on November 30, 2025   5 min

A selection of talks on Biochemistry

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This session centers on vitamins and cofactors in metabolism, offering a structured look at the essential roles of vitamins and their coenzyme forms in metabolic processes. We will discuss how these molecules enable enzymes to catalyze critical chemical reactions and how specific B vitamins are transformed into key cofactors for pathways like glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and amino acid metabolism. The lecture will highlight the health consequences of vitamin deficiencies and inherited cofactor disorders, emphasizing their impact on metabolism and disease. Ultimately, we will see that vitamins are fundamental to maintaining the flow of energy and matter necessary for life. Living cells must efficiently perform thousands of chemical transformations. While enzymes act as biological catalysts, they often need help from vitamins, their coenzyme derivatives, and certain metal ions. These molecules enable enzymes to carry out functions beyond amino acids alone, such as electron transfer and redox reactions. This interplay is essential for understanding how the body converts food into energy, synthesizes biomolecules, and defends against oxidative stress. Many key metabolic cofactors are derived from water-soluble B vitamins. For example, vitamin B1, thiamine, becomes thiamine pyrophosphate, crucial for decarboxylation and carbohydrate catabolism. Vitamin B2 riboflavin forms FAD and FMN essential for redox reactions. Vitamin B3 niacin yields

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