Peroxisomes provide vital functions in eukaryotes and the enzymes within are required in various steps of metabolic pathways. Some of these pathways include Alpha-oxidation, beta-oxidation, etherphosphlipid biosynthesis, glyoxylate synthesis and the degradation and homeostasis of hydrogen peroxide. It is these metabolic functions that shall be discussed in detail in the following pages.
Peroxisomes need to be able to communicate with other organelles, as alone they are relatively helpless organelles due to them not having a citric acid cycle or respiratory chain. Often the products of metabolism in peroxisomes are transported to the mitochondria after they have been detoxified so they can be fully oxidised and dealt with (Wanders 2014). The enzymes required for the various functions are imported with the help of peroxisomal membrane proteins, peroxins. This is explained in a video on the membrane structure page. (Click here to see video) |
Image from Lohdi and Semenkovich (2014)
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