Purine and Pyrimidine Metabolism Flashcards
1
Q
Two mechanisms for cells to get nucleotides:
A
Synthesized from scratch (de novo)
Salvaged from existing bases
2
Q
De Novo synthesis of purines is complex. How many steps and how much ATP is required?
A
11 steps
6 ATP used
for each purine formed.
3
Q
What is the initial purine ribonucleotide synthesized?
A
Inosine Monophosphate (IMP) AMP and GMP are each derived from IMP
4
Q
Because synthesis of purines is so energy consuming….
How does the body compensate?
A
Purine nucleotide salvage pathways exist so that free purine bases can be converted to nucleotides.
