enzymology An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

, a nucleoside-diphosphatase () is an

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

that

catalyzes Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

the

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemistry, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. When chemical reactions occur, the atoms are rearranged and the reaction is accompanied by an Gibbs free energy, ...

:a nucleoside diphosphate + H₂O

\rightleftharpoons

a nucleotide + phosphate Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are

nucleoside diphosphate Nucleotides are organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essent ...

and H₂O, whereas its two

products Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution ...

are

nucleotide Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...

and

phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...

. This enzyme belongs to the family of

hydrolase In biochemistry, hydrolases constitute a class of enzymes that commonly function as biochemical catalysts that use water to break a chemical bond: :\ce \quad \xrightarrowtext\quad \ce This typically results in dividing a larger molecule into s ...

s, specifically those acting on acid anhydrides in phosphorus-containing anhydrides. The

systematic name A systematic name is a name given in a systematic way to one unique group, organism, object or chemical substance, out of a specific population or collection. Systematic names are usually part of a nomenclature. A semisystematic name or semitrivi ...

of this enzyme class is nucleoside-diphosphate phosphohydrolase. Other names in common use include thiamine pyrophosphatase, UDPase, inosine diphosphatase, adenosine diphosphatase, IDPase, ADPase, adenosinepyrophosphatase, guanosine diphosphatase, guanosine 5'-diphosphatase, inosine 5'-diphosphatase, uridine diphosphatase, uridine 5'-diphosphatase, nucleoside diphosphate phosphatase, type B nucleoside diphosphatase, GDPase, CDPase, nucleoside 5'-diphosphatase, type L nucleoside diphosphatase, NDPase, and nucleoside diphosphate phosphohydrolase. This enzyme participates in

purine metabolism Purine metabolism refers to the metabolic pathways to synthesize and break down purines that are present in many organisms. Biosynthesis Purines are biologically synthesized as nucleotides and in particular as ribotides, i.e. bases attached to r ...

and

pyrimidine metabolism Pyrimidine biosynthesis occurs both in the body and through organic synthesis. ''De novo'' biosynthesis of pyrimidine ''De Novo'' biosynthesis of a pyrimidine is catalyzed by three gene products CAD, DHODH and UMPS. The first three enzymes of ...

Structural studies

As of late 2007, two

structures A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes and .

References

* * *

External links

* EC 3.6.1 Enzymes of known structure {{3.6-enzyme-stub