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Orotidine 5'-phosphate Decarboxylase
Orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase (OMP decarboxylase) or orotidylate decarboxylase is an enzyme involved in pyrimidine biosynthesis. It catalyzes the decarboxylation of orotidine monophosphate (OMP) to form uridine monophosphate (UMP). The function of this enzyme is essential to the de novo biosynthesis of the pyrimidine nucleotides uridine triphosphate, cytidine triphosphate, and thymidine triphosphate. OMP decarboxylase has been a frequent target for scientific investigation because of its demonstrated extreme catalytic efficiency and its usefulness as a selection marker for yeast strain engineering. Catalysis OMP decarboxylase is known for being an extraordinarily efficient catalyst capable of accelerating the uncatalyzed reaction rate by a factor of 1017. To put this in perspective, the uncatalysed reaction which would take ''78 million years'' to convert half the reactants into products is accelerated to ''18 milliseconds'' when catalyzed by OMP decarboxylase. This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. Almost all metabolic processes in the cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. Metabolic pathways depend upon enzymes to catalyze individual steps. The study of enzymes is called ''enzymology'' and the field of pseudoenzyme analysis recognizes that during evolution, some enzymes have lost the ability to carry out biological catalysis, which is often reflected in their amino acid sequences and unusual 'pseudocatalytic' properties. Enzymes are known to catalyze more than 5,000 biochemical reaction types. Other biocatalysts are catalytic RNA molecules, called ribozymes. Enzymes' specificity comes from their unique three-dimensional structures. Like all catalysts, enzymes increase the reaction ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbituric Acid
Barbituric acid or malonylurea or 6-hydroxyuracil is an organic compound based on a pyrimidine heterocyclic skeleton. It is an odorless powder soluble in water. Barbituric acid is the parent compound of barbiturate drugs, although barbituric acid itself is not pharmacologically active. The compound was first synthesised by Adolf von Baeyer. Naming It remains unclear why Baeyer chose to name the compound that he discovered "barbituric acid". In his textbook ''Organic Chemistry'', the American organic chemist Louis Frederick Fieser (1899–1977) initially speculated that the name stemmed from the German word ''Schlüsselbart'' (literally, the beard (''Bart Latin: ''barba'') of a key (''Schlüssel'')' that is, the bit of a key), because Baeyer had regarded barbituric acid as central (or "key") to understanding uric acid and its derivatives. However, Fieser subsequently decided that Baeyer had named the compound after a young lady whom he had met and who was called "Barbara"' hence t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
URA3
URA3 is a gene on chromosome V in ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' (yeast). Its systematic name is YEL021W. URA3 is often used in yeast research as a "marker gene", that is, a gene to label chromosomes or plasmids. URA3 encodes Orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase (ODCase), which is an enzyme that catalyzes one reaction in the synthesis of pyrimidine ribonucleotides (a component of RNA). Use in yeast research Loss of ODCase activity leads to a lack of cell growth unless uracil or uridine is added to the media. The presence of the URA3 gene in yeast restores ODCase activity, facilitating growth on media not supplemented with uracil or uridine, thereby allowing selection for yeast carrying the gene. In contrast, if 5-FOA (5-Fluoroorotic acid) is added to the media, the active ODCase will convert 5-FOA into the toxic compound (a suicide inhibitor) 5-fluorouracil causing cell death, which allows for selection against yeast carrying the gene. Since URA3 allows for both positive and nega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orotate Phosphoribosyltransferase
Orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRTase) or orotic acid phosphoribosyltransferase is an enzyme involved in pyrimidine biosynthesis. It catalyzes the formation of orotidine 5'-monophosphate (OMP) from orotate and phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate. In yeast and bacteria, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase is an independent enzyme with a unique gene coding for the protein, whereas in mammals and other multicellular organisms, the catalytic function is carried out by a domain of the bifunctional enzyme UMP synthase (UMPS). Biological background As OPRTase is part of a bifunctional complex UMP synthase in humans, the function and stability of this enzyme is not necessarily directly associated with disorders in the human body. It is however reasonable to believe that a dysfunction in one of the enzymes will cause a dysfunction of the whole enzyme. Defects in UMP synthase is associated with hypochromic anemia. In mammals, this bifunctional enzyme UMPS converts orotic acid into uridine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orotate
Orotic acid is a pyrimidinedione and a carboxylic acid. Historically, it was believed to be part of the vitamin B complex and was called vitamin B13, but it is now known that it is not a vitamin. The compound is synthesized in the body via a mitochondrial enzyme, dihydroorotate dehydrogenase or a cytoplasmic enzyme of pyrimidine synthesis pathway. It is sometimes used as a mineral carrier in some dietary supplements (to increase their bioavailability), most commonly for lithium orotate. Synthesis Dihydroorotate is synthesized to orotic acid by the enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, where it later combines with phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate (PRPP) to form orotidine-5'-monophosphate (OMP). A distinguishing characteristic of pyrimidine synthesis is that the pyrimidine ring is fully synthesized before being attached to the ribose sugar, whereas purine synthesis happens by building the base directly on the sugar. Chemistry Orotic acid is a Bronsted acid and the anion (oro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate
Phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate (PRPP) is a pentose phosphate. It is a biochemical intermediate in the formation of purine nucleotides via inosine-5-monophosphate, as well as in pyrimidine nucleotide formation. Hence it is a building block for DNA and RNA. The vitamins thiamine and cobalamin, and the amino acid tryptophan also contain fragments derived from PRPP. It is formed from ribose 5-phosphate (R5P) by the enzyme ribose-phosphate diphosphokinase: : It plays a role in transferring phospho-ribose groups in several reactions, some of which are salvage pathways: In '' de novo'' generation of purines, the enzyme amidophosphoribosyltransferase acts upon PRPP to create phosphoribosylamine. The histidine biosynthesis pathway involves the reaction between PRPP and ATP, which activates the latter to ring cleavage. Carbon atoms from ribose in PRPP form the linear chain and part of the imidazole ring in histidine. The same is true for the biosynthesis of tryptophan, with the fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ribose 5-phosphate
Ribose 5-phosphate (R5P) is both a product and an intermediate of the pentose phosphate pathway. The last step of the oxidative reactions in the pentose phosphate pathway is the production of ribulose 5-phosphate. Depending on the body's state, ribulose 5-phosphate can reversibly isomerize to ribose 5-phosphate. Ribulose 5-phosphate can alternatively undergo a series of isomerizations as well as transaldolations and transketolations that result in the production of other pentose phosphates as well as fructose 6-phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (both intermediates in glycolysis). The enzyme ribose-phosphate diphosphokinase converts ribose-5-phosphate into phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate. Structure R5P consists of a five-carbon sugar, ribose, and a phosphate group at the five-position carbon. It can exist in open chain form or in furanose form. The furanose form is most commonly referred to as ribose 5-phosphoric acid. Biosynthesis The formation of R5P is highly dependen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uridine Monophosphate Synthetase
The enzyme Uridine monophosphate synthase (, UMPS) (orotate phosphoribosyl transferase and orotidine-5'-decarboxylase) catalyses the formation of uridine monophosphate (UMP), an energy-carrying molecule in many important biosynthetic pathways. In humans, the gene that codes for this enzyme is located on the long arm of chromosome 3 (3q13). Structure and function This bifunctional enzyme has two main domains, an orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRTase, ) subunit and an orotidine-5’-phosphate decarboxylase (ODCase, ) subunit. These two sites catalyze the last two steps of the de novo uridine monophosphate (UMP) biosynthetic pathway. After addition of ribose-P to orotate by OPRTase to form orotidine-5’-monophosphate (OMP), OMP is decarboxylated to form uridine monophosphate by ODCase. In microorganisms, these two domains are separate proteins, but, in multicellular eukaryotes, the two catalytic sites are expressed on a single protein, uridine monophosphate synthase. UMPS exi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammals
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles (including birds) from which they diverged in the Carboniferous, over 300 million years ago. Around 6,400 extant species of mammals have been described divided into 29 orders. The largest orders, in terms of number of species, are the rodents, bats, and Eulipotyphla (hedgehogs, moles, shrews, and others). The next three are the Primates (including humans, apes, monkeys, and others), the Artiodactyla ( cetaceans and even-toed ungulates), and the Carnivora (cats, dogs, seals, and others). In terms of cladistics, which reflects evolutionary history, mammals are the only living members of the Synapsida (synapsids); this clade, together with Saur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
