Nucleotide

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A nucleotide is a nucleic acids, with three or more bonding together in order to form a nucleic acid.

Nucleotides are the structural units of metabolism and signaling.

Nucleotide structure

A nucleotide is comprised of a functional group(s) of phosphate(s), forming respectively a monophosphate, diphosphate or triphosphate nucleotide. There are a wide variety of nucleotide and deoxynucleotide structures, as illustrated in the diagrams below.

Nucleotide structural diagrams

Adenosine monophosphate AMP	Adenosine diphosphate ADP	Adenosine triphosphate ATP
Guanosine monophosphate GMP	Guanosine diphosphate GDP	Guanosine triphosphate GTP
Ribothymidine monophosphate rTMP	Ribothymidine diphosphate rTDP	Ribothymidine triphosphate rTTP
Uridine monophosphate UMP	Uridine diphosphate UDP	Uridine triphosphate UTP
Cytidine monophosphate CMP	Cytidine diphosphate CDP	Cytidine triphosphate CTP

Deoxynucleotide structural diagrams

Deoxyadenosine monophosphate dAMP	Deoxyadenosine diphosphate dADP	Deoxyadenosine triphosphate dATP
Deoxyguanosine monophosphate dGMP	Deoxyguanosine diphosphate dGDP	Deoxyguanosine triphosphate dGTP
Thymidine monophosphate TMP	Thymidine diphosphate TDP	Thymidine triphosphate TTP
Deoxyuridine monophosphate dUMP	Deoxyuridine diphosphate dUDP	Deoxyuridine triphosphate dUTP
Deoxycytidine monophosphate dCMP	Deoxycytidine diphosphate dCDP	Deoxycytidine triphosphate dCTP

Synthesis

Nucleotides can be synthesized through a variety of methods both in vitro and in vivo. This can involve salvage synthesis (the re-use of parts of nucleotides in resynthesizing new nucleotides through breakdown and synthesis reactions in order to exchange useful parts), or the use of oligonucleotide.

Types of bases

Nucleotides can be synthesized with both enzymes.

Pyrimidine ribonucleotides

The synthesis of a single pyrimidine is complex; the diagram to the left demonstrates the synthesis of a single pyrimidine.

Purine ribonucleotides

The atoms which are used to build the purine nucleotides come from a variety of sources:

	The biosynthetic origins of purine ring atoms N1 arises from the amine group of Gly C6 comes from HCO₃^- (CO₂)

The de novo synthesis of purine nucleotides by which these precursors are incorporated into the purine ring, proceeds by a 10 step pathway to the branch point intermediate IMP, the nucleotide of the base hypoxanthine. AMP and GMP are subsequently synthesized from this intermediate via separate, two step each, pathways. Thus purine moieties are initially formed as part of the ribonucleotides rather than as free bases.

Six enzymes take part in IMP synthesis. Three of them are multifunctional:

GART (reactions 2, 3, and 5)
PAICS (reactions 6, and 7)
ATIC (reactions 9, and 10)

Reaction 1. The pathway starts with the formation of PRPP. PRPS1 is the enzyme that activates R5P, which is primarily formed by the His. As a result of being on (a) such (a) major metabolic crossroad and the use of energy, this reaction is highly regulated.

Reaction 2. In the first reaction unique to purine nucleotide biosynthesis, PPAT catalyzes the displacement of PRPP's pyrophosphate group (PP_i) by Gln's amide nitrogen. The reaction occurs with the inversion of configuration about ribose C1, thereby forming β-5-phosphorybosylamine (5-PRA) and establishing the anomeric form of the future nucleotide. This reaction which is driven to completion by the subsequent hydrolysis of the released PP_i, is the pathway's flux generating step and is therefore regulated too.