uracil/arabidopsis

Uracil in DNA arises by misincorporation of dUMP during replication and by hydrolytic deamination of cytosine. This common lesion is actively removed through a base excision repair (BER) pathway initiated by a uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) activity that excises the damage as a free base. UDGs are

Uracil phosphoribosyltransferase, which catalyzes the conversion of uracil and 5-phosphoribosyl-1-R-diphosphate to uridine monophosphate, is important in the pyrimidine salvage pathway and is an attractive target for rational drug design by incorporation of prodrugs that are lethal to many parasitic

In silico studies with uracil phosphoribosyltransferase from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtUPRT) revealed its lower binding energies for uracil and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) as compared to those of bacterial UPRT indicating the prospective of AtUPRT in gene therapy implications. Hence, AtUPRT was cloned and

Uridine kinase (UK) and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRT) are enzymes catalyzing the formation of uridine 5'-monophosphate (UMP) from uridine and adenine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and from uracil and phosphoribosyl-alpha-l-pyrophosphate (PRPP), respectively, in the pyrimidine salvage pathway.

A fluoroorotic acid (FOA)-resistant mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana was isolated by screening M2 populations of ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS)-mutagenized Columbia seed. FOA resistance was due to a nuclear recessive gene, for1-1, which locates to a 519 kb region in chromosome 5. Assays of key

Substitution rates in plant mitochondrial genes are extremely low, indicating strong selective pressure as well as efficient repair. Plant mitochondria possess base excision repair pathways; however, many repair pathways such as nucleotide excision repair and mismatch repair appear to be absent. In

Plasma membrane proteins involved in transport processes play a crucial role in cell physiology. On account of these properties, these molecules are ideal targets for development of new therapeutic and agronomic agents. However, these proteins are of low abundance, which limits their study. Although

Uridine nucleotides can be formed by energy-consuming de novo synthesis or by the energy-saving recycling of nucleobases resulting from nucleotide catabolism. Uracil phosphoribosyltransferases (UPRTs; EC 2.4.2.9) are involved in the salvage of pyrimidines by catalyzing the formation of uridine

Salvage pathways play an important role in providing nucleobases to cells, which are unable to synthesize sufficient amounts for their needs. Cellular uptake systems for pyrimidines have been described, but in higher eukaryotes, transporters for thymine and uracil have not been identified. Two plant

BACKGROUND The recognition of microbe-associated molecular patterns during infection is central to the mounting of an effective immune response. In spite of their importance, it remains difficult to identify these molecules and the host receptors required for their perception, ultimately limiting

Nucleotide de novo synthesis is highly conserved among organisms and represents an essential biochemical pathway. In plants, the two initial enzymatic reactions of de novo pyrimidine synthesis occur in the plastids. By use of green fluorescent protein fusions, clear support is provided for a

BACKGROUND Deoxyuridine triphosphate nucleotidohydrolase (dUTPase) hydrolyzes dUTP to dUMP and pyrophosphate to maintain the cellular thymine-uracil ratio. dUTPase is also a target for cancer chemotherapy. However, the mechanism defining its substrate affinity remains unclear. Sequence comparisons

This paper examines the function of Arabidopsis thaliana AtPTB1 and AtPTB2 as plant splicing factors. The effect on splicing of overexpression of AtPTB1 and AtPTB2 was analysed in an in vivo protoplast transient expression system with a novel mini-exon splicing reporter. A range of mutations in

Deoxyuridine triphosphatase (dUTPase) enzyme is an essential enzyme that protects DNA against uracil incorporation. No organism can tolerate the absence of this activity. In this article, we show that dUTPase function is conserved between E. coli (Escherichia coli), yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Plastidic uracil salvage is essential for plant growth and development. So far, PLUTO, the plastidic nucleobase transporter from Arabidopsis thaliana is the only known uracil importer at the inner plastidic membrane which represents the permeability barrier of this organelle. We present the first