purine

(noun)

Any of a class of organic heterocyclic base containing fused pyrimidine and imidazole rings; they are components of nucleic acids

Related Terms

Examples of purine in the following topics:

  • Purine and Pyrimidine Synthesis

    • Unlike pyrimidines, purines are biologically synthesized as nucleotides and in particular as ribotides.
    • The carbon and nitrogen atoms of the purine ring, 5 and 4 respectively, come from multiple sources.
    • CTP synthase is activated by GTP, a purine.
    • This acts to balance the relative amounts of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides.
    • Adenine and guanine are purines and cytosine and thymine are pyrimidines.

  • Inhibiting Essential Metabolite Synthesis

    • Because tetrahydrofolate is essential for purine and pyrimidine synthesis, its deficiency can lead to inhibited production of DNA, RNA and proteins.
    • The purine analogues are the third type of antimetabolite antibiotics and they mimic the structure of metabolic purines .
    • Two of the four bases in nucleic acids, adenine and guanine, are purines.
    • Purine analogues disrupt nucleic acid production.
    • Distinguish between the three main types of antimetabolite antibiotics (antifolates, pyrimidine and purine analogues)

  • Biosynthesis and Energy

    • Biosynthetic building blocks utilized by organisms include amino acids, purines, pyrimidines, lipids, sugars, and enzyme cofactors.

  • Prokaryotic Transcription and Translation Are Coupled

    • Most transcripts originate using adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) and, to a lesser extent, guanosine-5'-triphosphate (GTP) (purine nucleoside triphosphates) at the +1 site.