Dihydroorotase (, ''carbamoylaspartic dehydrase'', ''dihydroorotate hydrolase'') is an enzyme which converts
carbamoyl aspartic acid into
4,5-dihydroorotic acid in the biosynthesis of
pyrimidines
Pyrimidine (; ) is an aromatic, heterocyclic, organic compound similar to pyridine (). One of the three diazines (six-membered heterocyclics with two nitrogen atoms in the ring), it has nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 in the ring. The oth ...
. It forms a multifunctional enzyme with
carbamoyl phosphate synthetase and
aspartate transcarbamoylase. Dihydroorotase is a
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic t ...
metalloenzyme
Metalloprotein is a generic term for a protein that contains a metal ion cofactor. A large proportion of all proteins are part of this category. For instance, at least 1000 human proteins (out of ~20,000) contain zinc-binding protein domains al ...
.
See also
*
Pyrimidine biosynthesis
References
External links
*
*
EC 3.5.2
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