Uridine Diphosphate Galactose
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Uridine diphosphate galactose ( UDP-
galactose Galactose (, ''wikt:galacto-, galacto-'' + ''wikt:-ose#Suffix 2, -ose'', ), sometimes abbreviated Gal, is a monosaccharide sugar that is about as sweetness, sweet as glucose, and about 65% as sweet as sucrose. It is an aldohexose and a C-4 epime ...
) is an intermediate in the production of
polysaccharide Polysaccharides (), or polycarbohydrates, are the most abundant carbohydrates found in food. They are long-chain polymeric carbohydrates composed of monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic linkages. This carbohydrate can react with wat ...
s. It is important in
nucleotide sugars metabolism In nucleotide sugar metabolism a group of biochemicals known as nucleotide sugars act as donors for sugar residues in the glycosylation reactions that produce polysaccharides. They are substrates for glycosyltransferases. The nucleotide sugars are ...
, and is the substrate for the transferase B4GALT5.


Sugar metabolism

Uridine diphosphate (UDP)-galactose is relevant in glycolysis. UDP-galactose is the activated form of Gal, a crucial monosaccharide building block for human milk oligosaccharide (HMO). The activated form of galactose (Gal) serves as a donor molecule involved in catalyzing the conversion of UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose. The conversion is a rate-limiting step essential to the pace of UDP-glucose production that determines the completion of glycosylation reactions. To further explain, UDP-galactose is derived from a galactose molecule which is an epimer of glucose, and via the
Leloir pathway The Leloir pathway is a metabolic pathway for the catabolism of D-galactose. It is named after Luis Federico Leloir, who first described it. In the first step, galactose mutarotase facilitates the conversion of β-D-galactose to α-D-galactose s ...
, it is used be used as a precursor for the metabolism of glucose into pyruvate. When lactose is hydrolyzed, D-Galactose enters the liver via the bloodstream. There, galactokinase phosphorylates it to galactose-1-phosphate using ATP. This compound then engages in a "ping-pong" reaction with UDP-glucose, catalyzed by uridylyltransferase, yielding glucose-1-phosphate and UDP-galactose. This glucose-1-phosphate feeds into glycolysis, while UDP-galactose undergoes epimerization to regenerate UDP-glucose.


See also

*
Galactose Galactose (, ''wikt:galacto-, galacto-'' + ''wikt:-ose#Suffix 2, -ose'', ), sometimes abbreviated Gal, is a monosaccharide sugar that is about as sweetness, sweet as glucose, and about 65% as sweet as sucrose. It is an aldohexose and a C-4 epime ...
* UDP galactose epimerase *
Uridine diphosphate Uridine diphosphate, abbreviated UDP, is an organic compound. It is an ester of pyrophosphoric acid with the nucleoside uridine. UDP consists of the pyrophosphate group, the pentose sugar ribose, and the nucleobase uracil. UDP is an important fa ...


References

{{Purinergics Coenzymes Nucleotides