Purine nucleotide catabolism function

Adenine phosphoribosyltransferase catalyzes the conversion of adenine to AMP in many tissues, by a reaction similar to that of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, but is quite distinct from the latter. It plays a minor role in purine salvage since adenine is not a significant product of purine nucleotide catabolism (see below). The function of this enzyme seems to be to scavenge small amounts of adenine that are produced during intestinal digestion of nucleic acids or in the metabolism of 5 -deoxy-5 -methylthioadenosine, a product of polyamine synthesis. 

Two reactions that are required to form the precursors of DNA are described in detail ribonucleotide reductase converts ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides, and thymidylate synthase methylates dUMP to form dTMP. The authors present the mechanisms and cofactors of these enzymes and explain how some anticancer drugs and antibiotics function by inhibition of dTMP synthesis and thus the growth of cells. Nucleotides also serve important roles as constituents of NAD", NADP, FAD, and coenzyme A (CoA), so the syntheses of these cofactors are described briefly. The chapter concludes with an explanation of how the purines are catabolized and some of the pathological conditions that arise from defects in the catabolic pathway of the purines. 

The purine phosphoribosyltransferases permit cells to use exogenous or dietary purines, and this function is undoubtedly important to some bacteria and to those animal cells (e.g., erythrocytes) which do not synthesize purines de novo. The importance of this role in other animal cells in vivo is far from clear, however, as hypoxanthine is present in serum only at very low concentrations (50), and adenine and guanine have not been detected in normal serum. Purine bases (especially hypoxanthine and guanine) can be produced intracellularly by the catabolism of messenger RNA and soluble purine nucleotides their reutilization via the phosphoribosyltransferases would prevent the loss of these compounds from the cells. 

Guanylate reductase, which deaminates this nucleotide, catalyzes a reductive, rather than hydrolytic, deamination and has been discussed in Chapter 9. Like adenylate deaminase, it has a catabolic role and also functions in purine nucleotide interconversion. A guanosine deaminase has recently been identified in a pseudomonad (13), but it is not known to occur in animal cells. 

In addition to their role as components of nucleoproteins, purines and pyrimidines are vital to the proper functioning of the cell. The bases are constituents of various coenzymes, such as coenzyme A (CoA), adenosine triphosphate (ATP), guanosine triphosphate (GTP), cytidine triphosphate (CTP), diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPN), triphosphopyridine nucleotide (TPN), and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). A pyrimidine derivative, cytidine diphosphate choline, is involved in phospholipid synthe another pyrimidine compound, uridine diphosphate glucose, is an important substance in carbohydrate metabolism. Cytidine diphosphate ribitol functions in the biosynthesis of a new group of bacterial cell-wall components, the teichoic acids. While mammals excrete nitrogen derived from protein catabolism in the form of urea, birds eliminate their nitrogen by synthesizing it into the purine compound, uric acid. 

In summary, the biochemical function of folate coenzymes is to transfer and use these one-carbon units in a variety of essential reactions (Figure 2), including de novo purine biosynthesis (formylation of glycinamide ribonucleotide and 5-amino-4-imidazole carboxamide ribonucleotide), pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis (methylation of deoxyuridylic acid to thy-midylic acid), amino-acid interconversions (the interconversion of serine to glycine, catabolism of histidine to glutamic acid, and conversion of homocysteine to methionine (which also requires vitamin B12)), and the generation and use of formate. 

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