Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Mukherjee T
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2873085 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Journal of the American Chemical Society 20100401 16
A new pyrimidine catabolic pathway (the Rut pathway) was recently discovered in Escherichia coli K12. In this pathway, uracil is converted to 3-hydroxypropionate, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. The seven-gene Rut operon is required for this conversion. Here we demonstrate that the flavoenzyme RutA catalyzes the initial uracil ring-opening reaction to give 3-ureidoacrylate. This reaction, while formally a hydrolysis reaction, proceeds by an oxidative mechanism initiated by the addition of a flavin ...[more]