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Deamination

 

 
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Deamination
 
 
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Deamination is the removal of an amine
Amine

Amines are organic compounds and functional groups that contain a base nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are derivative s of ammonia, wherein one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by organic substituents such as alkyl and aryl groups....
 group from a molecule
Molecule

In chemistry, a molecule is defined as a sufficiently stable, electric charge neutral group of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by very strong chemical bonds....
.

In the human body
Human body

The human body is the entire physical and mental structure of a human organism, and consists of a head, neck, torso, two arms and two legs.By the time the human reaches adulthood, the body consists of close to 10 trillion Cell , the basic unit of life....
, deamination takes place in the liver
Liver

The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals; it has a wide range of functions, a few of which are detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion....
. Deamination is the process by which amino acids are broken down when too much protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
 has been taken in. The amino group is removed from the amino acid and converted to ammonia
Ammonia

Ammonia is a chemical compound with the chemical formula nitrogenhydrogen. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor....
. The rest of the amino acid is made up of mostly carbon
Carbon

Carbon is a chemical element with chemical symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalence?making four electrons available to form covalent bond chemical bonds....
 and hydrogen
Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the chemical symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly combustion and explosive Diatomic molecule gas with the molecular formula H2....
, and is recycled or oxidized for energy. Ammonia is toxic to the human system, and enzymes convert it to urea
Urea

Urea is an organic compound with the chemical formula 2carbonoxygen.Urea is also known by the International Nonproprietary Name carbamide, as established by the World Health Organization....
 or uric acid
Uric acid

Uric acid is an organic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen with the formula C5H4N4O3....
 by addition of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
 molecules (which is not considered a deamination process) in the urea cycle
Urea cycle

The urea cycle is a cycle of biochemistry reactions occurring in many animals that produces urea 2carbonoxygen from ammonia . This cycle was the first metabolic cycle discovered ....
, which also takes place in the liver.






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Encyclopedia


Deamination is the removal of an amine
Amine

Amines are organic compounds and functional groups that contain a base nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are derivative s of ammonia, wherein one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by organic substituents such as alkyl and aryl groups....
 group from a molecule
Molecule

In chemistry, a molecule is defined as a sufficiently stable, electric charge neutral group of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by very strong chemical bonds....
.

In the human body
Human body

The human body is the entire physical and mental structure of a human organism, and consists of a head, neck, torso, two arms and two legs.By the time the human reaches adulthood, the body consists of close to 10 trillion Cell , the basic unit of life....
, deamination takes place in the liver
Liver

The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals; it has a wide range of functions, a few of which are detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion....
. Deamination is the process by which amino acids are broken down when too much protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
 has been taken in. The amino group is removed from the amino acid and converted to ammonia
Ammonia

Ammonia is a chemical compound with the chemical formula nitrogenhydrogen. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor....
. The rest of the amino acid is made up of mostly carbon
Carbon

Carbon is a chemical element with chemical symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalence?making four electrons available to form covalent bond chemical bonds....
 and hydrogen
Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the chemical symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly combustion and explosive Diatomic molecule gas with the molecular formula H2....
, and is recycled or oxidized for energy. Ammonia is toxic to the human system, and enzymes convert it to urea
Urea

Urea is an organic compound with the chemical formula 2carbonoxygen.Urea is also known by the International Nonproprietary Name carbamide, as established by the World Health Organization....
 or uric acid
Uric acid

Uric acid is an organic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen with the formula C5H4N4O3....
 by addition of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
 molecules (which is not considered a deamination process) in the urea cycle
Urea cycle

The urea cycle is a cycle of biochemistry reactions occurring in many animals that produces urea 2carbonoxygen from ammonia . This cycle was the first metabolic cycle discovered ....
, which also takes place in the liver. Urea and uric acid can safely diffuse into the blood and then be excreted in urine.

Deamination reactions in DNA


Cytosine

Spontaneous deamination is the hydrolysis
Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which one or more water are split into hydrogen and hydroxide ions which may go on to participate in further reactions....
 reaction of cytosine
Cytosine

Cytosine is one of the five main bases found in DNA and RNA. It is a pyrimidine derivative, with a heterocyclic aromatic ring and two substituents attached ....
 into uracil
Uracil

Uracil is a common and naturally occurring pyrimidine derivative. Originally discovered in 1900, it was isolated by hydrolysis of yeast nuclein that was found in bovine thymus and spleen, herring, sperm, and wheat germ....
, releasing ammonia
Ammonia

Ammonia is a chemical compound with the chemical formula nitrogenhydrogen. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor....
 in the process. This can occur in vitro through the use of bisulfite
Bisulfite

Bisulfite ion is the ion HSO3-. Salts containing the HSO3- ion are termed bisulfites also known as sulfite lyes....
, which converts cytosine, but not 5-methylcytosine
5-Methylcytosine

5-Methylcytosine is a methylation form of cytosine in which a methyl group is attached to carbon 5, altering its structure without altering its base-pairing properties....
. This property has allowed researchers to sequence
DNA sequencing

The term DNA sequencing refers to methods for determining the order of the nucleotide bases, adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine, in a molecule of DNA....
 methylated DNA to distinguish non-methylated cytosine (shown up as uracil
Uracil

Uracil is a common and naturally occurring pyrimidine derivative. Originally discovered in 1900, it was isolated by hydrolysis of yeast nuclein that was found in bovine thymus and spleen, herring, sperm, and wheat germ....
) and methylated cytosine (unaltered).

In DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
, this spontaneous deamination is corrected for by the removal of uracil (product of cytosine deamination and not part of DNA) and replacement with another cytosine.

5-methylcytosine


Spontaneous deamination of 5-methylcytosine
5-Methylcytosine

5-Methylcytosine is a methylation form of cytosine in which a methyl group is attached to carbon 5, altering its structure without altering its base-pairing properties....
 results in thymine
Thymine

Thymine is one of the four bases in the nucleic acid of DNA that make up the letters GCAT. The others are adenine, guanine, and cytosine. Thymine always pairs with adenine....
 and ammonia. This is the most common single nucleotide mutation. In DNA, this reaction cannot be corrected because the repair mechanisms do not recognize thymine as erroneous (as opposed to uracil), and, unless it affects the function of the gene
Gene

A gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cell and pass genetic trait to offspring....
, the mutation
Mutation

In biology, mutations are changes to the nucleotide sequence of the genetic material of an organism. Mutations can be caused by copying errors in the genetic material during cell division, by exposure to ultraviolet or ionizing radiation, chemical mutagens, or virus , or can be induced by the organism, itself, by cellular processes such as s...
 will persist. This flaw in the repair mechanism contributes to the rarity of CpG site
CpG site

CpG sites are regions of DNA where a cytosine nucleotide occurs next to a guanine nucleotide in the linear DNA sequence of Base pairs along its length....
s in the eukaryotic
Eukaryote

Animals, plants, fungus, and protists are eukaryotes , organisms whose Cell are organized into complex structures enclosed within Cell membrane....
 genome
Genome

In classical genetics, the genome of a diploid organism including eukarya refers to a full set of chromosomes or genes in a gamete; thereby, a regular somatic cell contains two full sets of genomes....
.

Additional proteins performing this function

  • APOBEC3G
    APOBEC3G

    APOBEC3G is a human protein belonging to the APOBEC superfamily of proteins that interferes with the replication of HIV and other retroviruses. This family of proteins has been suggested to play an important role in innate anti-viral immunity ....
     - affects HIV
    HIV

    Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that can lead to AIDS , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections....
Apolipoprotein B