Identification of a Formate-Dependent Uric Acid Degradation Pathway in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Purine is a nitrogen-containing compound that is abundant in nature. In organisms that utilize purine as a nitrogen source, purine is converted to uric acid, which is then converted to allantoin. Allantoin is then converted to ammonia. In Escherichia coli, neither urate-degrading activity nor a gene encoding an enzyme homologous to the known urate-degrading enzymes had previously been found. Here, we demonstrate urate-degrading activity in E. coli We first identified aegA as an E. coli gene involved in oxidative stress tolerance. An examination of gene expression revealed that both aegA and its paralog ygfT are expressed under both microaerobic and anaerobic conditions. The ygfT gene is localized within a chromosomal gene cluster presumably

SUBMITTER: Iwadate Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6509651 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature