Roth Flashcards
What are the purines?
AG
- Pure Gold (Ag = gold)
- 2 ring structure
What are the pyrimidines?
Cytosine, Uracil, Thymine
- 1 ring structure
What is the difference between a nucleoside and nucleotide
Nucleoside is just the base and the ribose
Nucleotide is the base, ribose, and the PHOSPHATE
What is the first step in de novo purine synthesis?
First step is to make PRPP.
Ribose-5phosphate –> PRPPP
- the enzyme that does this is called “PRPP Synthetase”
- One molecule of ATP is consumed
Regulation:
Upregulated - by inorganic phosphate because if you remember, inorganic phosphate is released any time a nucleotide is destroyed/recycled,, signaling a need for more to be made
Down regulation - ADP, ATP, GDP, GTP.
WHat is the second step of de novo purine synthesis after we have PRPP?
PRPP –> PRA
- this is the committed step in purine synthesis
- Completed by the enzyme “PRPP-amido-transferase”
- Glutamine donates the amide group for this to be able to occur.
Regulation:
Up regulation - PRPP
Down regulation - AMP, GMP, IMP
Azaserine and DON
Structurally similar to glutamine. They irreversibly bind to PRPP-amide-transferase. These antibiotics are potent inhibitors or purine nucleotide metabolism.
What is the 3rd step in de novo purine synthesis? Now that We have PRA, what happens?
There is a series of 9 steps that converts PRA into IMP.
- 4 molecules of ATP are used up in this process
- contributors towards making IMP are: CO2, aspartate, glycine, ,glutamine, THF
How do humans make THF?
Dietary folic acid –> dihydrofolate –> THF
- DHF reductase is responsible for the conversion of dihydrofolate into THF.
- This enzyme is heavily acted upon by many drugs as a chemotherapeutic agent.
How does methotrexate / aminopterin work?
They bind to DHF reductase, which stifles nucleotide synthesis and kills tumors. It is very toxic though
How does trimethoprim work?
Another drug that inhibits DHF reductase. This one though binds much stronger to bacterial DHF reductase than human DHF reductase. Therefore, it is an effective antibiotic.
How do sulfonamides work?
Basically, bacteria make their own folate from a molecule called PABA. Sulfonamides are structurally similar to PABA and therefore competitively inhibits folic acid synthesis.
Step 4 in de novo purine synthesis
IMP can be converted into AMP or GMP downstream. This slide discusses AMP synthesis
IMP is converted into the purine intermediate adenylosuccinate.
- GTP and aspartate are needed for this step
- The enzyme that does this is inhibited by AMP
Then, adenylosuccinate is converted to AMP, releasing fumarate in the process.
Step 4 in purine de novo synthesis
Option2
The other option for IMP is to be converted into GMP. First, IMP is converted into XMP by IMP dehydrogenase.
- NAD+ is required for this reaction.
- IMP dehydrogenase is inhibited by GMP
Secondly, XMP is converted to GMP.
Ribavarin
Antiviral medication used to Hep C. it inhibits IMP dehydrogenase, thereby depleting intracellular pools off guanine nucleotides.
Regulation of AMP and GMP
They both feedback on their own creation via negative feedback.
They are also regulated so as to coordinate the relative amounts of AMP and GMP to one another in a process called reciprocity.
- This basically means that if you remember, you need GTP to stimulate the creation of AMP and you need ATP to stimulate the creation of GMP. Therefore, if levels of one are low, the other will ensure that it gets more made.
Step 5 of de novo purine synthesis? WHat happens once we have our AMP/GMP?
We’ll they eventually have to be made into ATP/GTP. So, first, an enzyme called Monophosphate kinase that produces ADP and GDP. ADP and GDP are further phosphorylated by nucleoside diphosphate kinase to create ATP and GTP.
Step 1 in purine salvage pathway
The salvage pathway takes advantage of the fact that free floating bases including, adenine, guanine, and hypoxanthine are free floating in the cell. The salvage pathway simply attaches a preformed purine base to the PRPP backbone. There are two enzymes that do this:
APRT converts: Adenine + PRPP –> AMP
HGPRT converts: Guanine + PRPP –> GMP
HGPRT also converts: Hypoxanthine + PRPP –> IMP
Lesch Nyhan Syndrome
Caused by a deficiency in the enzyme HGPRT
- X linked recessive
- results I n neurological defects such as spasticity, mental retardation, aggression, self-mutilation.
- Because you have less HGPRT, you have less GMP and thus less GTP. The brain relies very heavily on this pathway, which is why we see the neurological deficits. It is even involved in the developmental process of dopaminergic neurons, which is why these patients have less dopaminergic nerves.
- Because the PRPP isn’t being used to make GMP/IMP, there is also extra PRPP laying around. This increases purine de novo synthesis because it is an activator off this pathway (PRPP-amido-transferase).
- These patients also have uric acid buildup resulting in gout. This makes sense because you have extra guanine and hypoxanthine. These bases will then become uric acid.
What is the first step in the degradation of purines to uric acid?
A 5’ nucleotidase removes the phosphate group from AMP, GMP, IMP, resulting in the formation of adenosine, guanosine, and inosine. What is left s just the nitrogenous base attached to ribose.