COQ9 is rich in wheat, rice, oats, barley, corn, rye and millet. |Photo source: Sandeep Saxena
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze reactions in cells, thus effectively metabolizing. For effective function, many enzymes require some molecules as cofactors. These auxiliary molecules are called coenzymes. Coenzymes are naturally occurring organic molecules that bind and support the activity of the enzyme. Coenzyme Q (also known as panaminoketone) is a molecule that contains several isoprene units with antioxidants that provide stability for stress. Ubiquitinone is present in every cell membrane, which is crucial for energy production. It comes in 10 different types (COQ1…Q10). Each of them is a molecule in the respiratory chain, a water-insoluble but fat-soluble antioxidant. All of these coenzymes play a crucial role in the function of mitochondria, the main energy producer in the cell. In this article, we focus mainly on COQ9 and COQ10.
Most cereal crops produce COQ9, which has 9 isoprene units. COQ9 is rich in wheat, rice, oats, barley, corn, rye and millet. It is also rich in bamboo, barley and flowering plants such as cinnamon, avocado and pepper.
The importance of COQ10
In humans, COQ10 is part of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, a process that produces most of the body’s cellular energy. The energy demand for organs such as the heart is high and contains high concentrations of COQ10. COQ9 is rich in our daily foods because it is mainly rice, wheat and corn. However, we need more COQ10 to make our health because genetic factors, aging and neurological problems require additional panaminoketones.
In 2008, Montini and colleagues from Milan, Italy, showed that COQ10 supplementation helps patients with neurological problems. The results are published in New England Journal of Medicine. Similarly, in 2012, Shamima Ahmed and colleagues from the London Institute of Neurology and National Hospital showed that babies with COQ10 deficiency may be helpful after adding panaminoketone analogs. And several dieticians and medical companies prescribe and sell drugs equivalent to CoQ10.
Generate COQ10
In this regard, Kadawaki of the National Institute of Agricultural Biology Sciences of Ibaraki, Japan, and others in 2006 FEBS letters The rice plants can be genetically designed to produce COQ10. Here, the authors were able to design a gene called “DDSA” in a rice factory to produce COQ10. In 2010, the same group introduced the gene in rice plants, which had more sugar content and produced more coq10, with a yield of 1.3 to 1.6 times. As well as the epigenetic engineering CRISPR-CAS9 (which allows for precise locations in the genome to be edited) using Nobel Prize-winning technology, has been successfully tried by Muneaki Nakamura and others (Natural Cell Biology2021)
From farm to factory
“Gene edited plants jump from farm to factory” is the title released on February 20, 2025 nature Among the highlighted choices of its research, it refers to XU’s paper and co-author from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. In this article, the authors studied hundreds of plant species focused on COQ1, an enzyme that synthesizes the polyisotypic strands of COQ. In rice, they genetically modified the enzyme through multiple Prime Editing through a refined technique based on CRISPR to generate biochemical rice varieties containing up to 75% COQ10. This arduous analysis reveals how a variety of edible crops (“farms”) can be designed to produce antioxidant supplements (“factories”).
publishing – April 20, 2025 at 12:00 am IST
