Chemistry of nucleotides

Lecture 1
 BIOMEDICAL IMPORTANCE
•Precursors of nucleic acids, purine and pyrimidine
nucleotides
•Participate in metabolic functions
•Energy metabolism
•Regulation of enzyme activity
•Signal transduction
•Many coenzymes
•Principal donors and acceptors of phosphoryl groups in
metabolism
•Nucleoside tri- and diphosphates like ATP and ADP are the
principal players in the energy transductions that
accompany metabolic interconversions and
oxidative phosphorylation
•Sugar derivatives UDP-glucose and UDP-galactose
participate in sugar interconversions, biosynthesis of starch
and glycogen.
•CDP-acylglycerol are intermediates in lipid biosynthesis.
•ATP-dependent phosphorylation of key metabolic enzymes
•Allosteric regulation of enzymes by ATP
•cyclic nucleotides cAMP and cGMP serve as the
second messengers in hormonally regulated
events
•medical applications, use of synthetic purine and
pyrimidine analogs
(halogens, thiols, or additional nitrogen
atoms)
•chemotherapy of cancer and AIDS
•suppressors of the immune response during
organ transplantation
Many Coenzymes and Related Compounds
Are Derivatives of Adenosine
Monophosphate
S-Adenosylmethionine
Adenosine 3-phosphate-5-phosphosulfate