Explain two types of transferases ?

a) Alanine aminotransferase
Alanine + a-ketoglutarate ↔ glutamate + pyruvate

b) Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)
Asparate + a-ketoglutarate ↔ H oxaloacetate + glutamate

There are at least 13 different aminotransferases. All aminotransferases require the coenzyme pyridoxal phosphate (derived from vitamin B6). You have already learnt about coenzymes, particularly about pyridoxal phosphate here. Aminotransferases act by transferring the amino group of an amino acid to the pyridoxal part of the coenzyme to generate pyridoxamine phosphate. The pyridoxamine form of the coenzyme then reacts with an a-keto acid and regenerates back the coenzyme. The details of transamination reactions are given in the section on biochemical role of vitamins in Unit 10 later. Thus you can see that by transamination, one amino acid can be converted into another amino acid as shown herewith.