Orotate synthesis from dihydroorotate

The first step in de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis is the synthesis of carbamoyl phosphate from bicarbonate and ammonia in a multistep process, requiring the cleavage of two molecules of ATP. This reaction is catalyzed by carbamoyl phosphate synthetase (CPS), and the bicarbonate is phosphorylated by ATP to form carboxyphosphate and ADP (adenine dinucleotide phosphate). Ammonia then reacts with carboxyphosphate to form carbamic acid. The latter is phosphorylated by another molecule of ATP with the mediation of CPS to form carbamoyl phosphate, which reacts with aspartate by aspartate transcarbamoy-lase to form A-carbamoylaspartate. The latter cyclizes to form dihydroorotate, which is then oxidized by NAD-1- to generate orotate. Reaction of orotate with 5-phosphoribosyl-l-pyrophosphate (PRPP), catalyzed by pyrimidine PT, forms the pyrimidine nucleotide orotidylate. This reaction is driven by the hydrolysis of pyrophosphate. Decarboxylatin of orotidylate, catalyzed by orotidylate decarboxylase, forms uridylate (uridine-5 -monophosphate, UMP), a major pyrimidine nucleotide that is a precursor of RNA (Figure 6.53). 

The suggestion of a control of pyrimidine synthesis stems from the observation that pyrimidine-requiring mutants of E. coli in pyrimidine-free medium accumulated carbamylaspartic acid and, to a lesser extent, dihy-droorotic acid and orotic acid this accumulation was prevented by the addition of uracil and cytosine to the medium (443). It was shown further employing enzyme preparations that cytidine and particularly cytidine 5 -phosphate were effective inhibitors of carbamylaspartic acid synthesis, suggesting that the inhibition of this enzyme by a pyrimidine nucleotide was the mechanism for the feedback control of pyrimidine biosynthesis in bacteria. The decreased formation of dihydroorotic acid and orotic acid were probably secondary events reflecting the earlier metabolic block. 

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