Search

Cytidine triphosphate (CTP), as a substance involved in the metabolism of phospholipids, proteins and nucleic acids, has precise drug effects and is a direct precursor for the synthesis of drugs such as citicoline. In this study, we established an in vitro six-enzyme cascade system to generate CTP. To avoid thermodynamic bottlenecks, we employed a circuitous and two-stage reaction strategy. Using cytidine as the key substrate, the final product CTP is obtained via the deamination and uridine phosphorylation pathways, relying on the irreversible reaction of cytidine triphosphate synthase to catalyze the amination of uridine triphosphate. Several extremophilic microbial-derived deaminases were screened and characterized, and a suitable cytidine deaminase was selected to match the first-stage reaction conditions. In addition, directed evolution modification of the rate-limiting enzyme CTP synthetase in the pathway yielded a variant that successfully relieved the product feedback inhibition, along with a 1.7-fold increase in activity over the wild type. After optimizing the reaction conditions, we finally carried out the catalytic reaction at an initial cytidine concentration of 20 mM, and the yield of CTP exceeded 82% within 10.0 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CTP biosynthesis is carried out by two pathways: salvage and de novo. CTPsyn catalyzes the latter. The study of CTPsyn activity in mammalian cells began in the 1970s, and various fascinating discoveries were made regarding the role of CTPsyn in cancer and development. However, its ability to fit into a cellular serpent-like structure, termed 'cytoophidia,' was only discovered a decade ago by three independent groups of scientists. Although the self-assembly of CTPsyn into a filamentous structure is evolutionarily conserved, the enzyme activity upon this self-assembly varies in different species. CTPsyn is required for cellular development and homeostasis. Changes in the expression of CTPsyn cause developmental changes in Drosophila melanogaster. A high level of CTPsyn activity and formation of cytoophidia are often observed in rapidly proliferating cells such as in stem and cancer cells. Meanwhile, the deficiency of CTPsyn causes severe immunodeficiency leading to immunocompromised diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites, making CTPsyn an attractive therapeutic target. Here, we provide an overview of the role of CTPsyn in cellular and disease perspectives along with its potential as a drug target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The de novo biosynthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides provides essential precursors for multiple growth-related events in higher eukaryotes. Assembled from ATP, bicarbonate and glutamine, the uracil and cytosine nucleotides are fuel for the synthesis of RNA, DNA, phospholipids, UDP sugars and glycogen. Over the past 2 decades considerable progress has been made in elucidating the mechanisms by which cellular pyrimidines are modulated to meet the needs of the cell. Recent studies demonstrate that CAD, a rate-limiting enzyme in the de novo synthesis of pyrimidines, is regulated through reversible phosphorylation, Myc-dependent transcriptional changes and caspase-mediated degradation. These studies point to increasing evidence for cooperation between key cell signaling pathways and basic elements of cellular metabolism, and suggest that these events have the potential to determine distinct cellular fates, including growth, differentiation and death. This review highlights some of the recent advances in the regulation of pyrimidine synthesis by growth-factor-stimulated signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes research from our laboratory on two aspects of the biochemistry ofnucleoside diphosphate kinase from Escherichia coli—first, its interactions with several T4bacteriophage-coded enzymes, as part of a multienzyme complex for deoxyribonucleosidetriphosphate biosynthesis. We identify some of the specific interactions and discuss whetherthe complex is linked physically or functionally with the T4 DNA replicationmachinery, orreplisome. Second, we discuss phenotypes of an E. coli mutant strain carrying a targeteddeletion of ndk, the structural gene for nucleoside diphosphate kinase. How do bacteria lackingthis essential housekeeping enzyme synthesize nucleoside triphosphates? In view of the specificinteractions of nucleoside diphosphate kinase with T4 enzymes of DNA metabolism, howdoes T4 multiply after infection of this host? Finally, the ndk disruption strain has highlybiased nucleoside triphosphate pools, including elevations of the CTP and dCTP pools of7- and 23-fold, respectively. Accompanied by these biased nucleotide pools is a strong mutatorphenotype. What is the biochemical basis for the pool abnormalities and what are the mutagenicmechanisms? We conclude with brief references to related work in other laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sequence data and evolutionary arguments suggest that a similarity may exist between the C-terminal end of glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase (GlnRS) and the catalytic domain of glutamine amidotransferases (GATs). If true, this would seem to imply that the amidation reaction of the Glu-tRNA complex was the evolutionary precursor of the direct tRNA aminoacylation pathway. Since the C-terminal end of GlnRS does not now have an important functional role, it can be concluded that this sequence contains vestiges that lead us to believe that it represents a palimpsest. This sequence still conserves the remains of the evolutionary transition: amidation reaction → aminoacylation reaction. This may be important in deciding which mechanism gave origin to the genetic code organization. These observations, together with results obtained by Gatti and Tzagoloff [J. Mol. Biol. (1991) 218: 557-568], lead to the hypothesis that the class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) may be homologous to the GATs of the trpG subfamily, while the class Il ARSs may be homologous to the GATs of the purF subfamily. Overall, this seems to point to the existence of an intimate evolutionary link between the proteins involved in the primitive metabolism and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]