what is the difference between nad and nadh
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide In metabolism, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide is involved in redox reactions, carrying electrons from one reaction to another. The coenzyme is, therefore, found in two forms in cells: NAD+ is an oxidizing agent – it accepts electrons from other molecules and becomes reduced. This reaction forms NADH, which can then be used as a reducing agent to donate electrons. These electron transfer reactions are the main function of NAD. However, it is also used in other cellular processes, the most notable one being a substrate of enzymes that add or remove chemical groups from proteins, in posttranslational modifications. Because of the importance of these functions, the enzymes involved in NAD metabolism are targets for drug discovery.
Flavin adenine dinucleotide FAD has a more positive reduction potential than NAD+ and is a very strong oxidizing agent. The cell utilizes this in many energetically difficult oxidation reactions such as dehydrogenation of a C-C bond to an alkene. FAD-dependent proteins function in a large variety of metabolic pathways including electron transport, DNA repair, nucleotide biosynthesis, beta-oxidation of fatty acids, amino acid catabolism, as well as synthesis of other cofactors such as CoA, CoQ and heme groups. One well-known reaction is part of the citric acid cycle (also known as the TCA or Krebs cycle); succinate dehydrogenase (complex II in the electron transport chain) requires covalently bound FAD to catalyze the oxidation of succinate to fumarate by coupling it with the reduction of ubiquinone to ubiquinol.[11] The high-energy electrons from this oxidation are stored momentarily by reducing FAD to FADH2. FADH2 then reverts to FAD, sending its two high-energy electrons through the electron transport chain; the energy in FADH2 is enough to produce 1.5 equivalents of ATP[18] by oxidative phosphorylation. There are also redox flavoproteins that non-covalently bind to FAD like Acetyl-CoA-dehydrogenases which are involved in beta-oxidation of fatty acids and catabolism of amino acids like leucine (isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase), isoleucine, (short/branched-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase), valine (isobutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase), and lysine (glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase).[19] Additional examples of FAD-dependent enzymes that regulate metabolism are glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (triglyceride synthesis) and xanthine oxidase involved in purine nucleotide catabolism.[20] There are other noncatalytic roles that FAD can play in flavoproteins such as structural roles, or involved in blue-sensitive light photoreceptors that regulate biological clocks and development, generation of light in bioluminescent bacteria.[19]