Everything about Adenine totally explained
Adenine is a
purine with a variety of roles in
biochemistry including
cellular respiration, in the form of both the energy-rich
adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the
cofactors
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (
FAD), and
protein synthesis, as a chemical component of
DNA and
RNA.
Structure
It forms several
tautomers, compounds that can be rapidly interconverted and are often considered equivalent.
Biosynthesis
The
Purine metabolism involves the formation of Adenine and
Guanine. Both adenine and guanine are derived from the nucleoside inosine monophosphate (IMP), which is synthesised on a pre-existing ribose through a complex pathway using atoms from the amino acids glycine, glutamine, and aspartic acid, as well as formate ions transferred from the coenzyme tetrahydrofolate.
Function
Adenine is one of the two purine
nucleobases used in forming
nucleotides of the
nucleic acids. In DNA, adenine binds to
thymine via two
hydrogen bonds to assist in stabilizing the nucleic acid structures. In RNA, which is used in the
cytoplasm for
protein synthesis, adenine binds to
uracil.
Adenine forms
adenosine, a
nucleoside, when attached to
ribose, and
deoxyadenosine when attached to
deoxyribose. It forms
adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a
nucleotide, when three
phosphate groups are added to adenosine. Adenosine triphosphate is used in cellular metabolism as one of the basic methods of transferring
chemical energy between
chemical reactions.
History
In older literature, adenine was sometimes called
Vitamin B4. It is no longer considered a true vitamin or part of the
Vitamin B complex. However, two B vitamins,
niacin and
riboflavin, bind with adenine to form the essential cofactors
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and
flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), respectively.
Some think that, at the
origin of life on
Earth, the first adenine was formed by the
polymerization of five
hydrogen cyanide (HCN) molecules. However, this has been criticized by some chemists.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Adenine'.
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