By way of review:
Nucleotide | Type of base | Present in | Folate form required |
Adenylate (AMP or dAMP) |
Purine |
RNA or DNA |
N10-formyl THF
N5, N10-methenyl THF
|
Guanylate (GMP or dGMP) |
Purine |
RNA and DNA |
N10-formyl THF
N5, N10-methenyl THF |
Cytidylate (CMP or dCMP) |
Pyrimidine |
RNA and DNA |
[none] |
Uridylate (UMP only) |
Pyrimidate |
RNA only |
[none] |
Thymidylate (dTMP only) |
Pyrimidine |
DNA only |
N5, N10-methylene THF |
Fig. 5 - Folate needed for all purines plus thymidylate
Purines and pyrimidines each have common biosynthetic pathways, with the individual bases being formed by terminal modifications. In the purine pathway, N5, N10-methenyl THF are needed early on and are thus required for all purines (even ones like IMP that are not contained in DNA/RNA). After their utilization in purine biosynthesis, both
N5, N10-methenyl THF and N10-formyl
THF are recycled as THF (see figure above). Pyrimidines, on the other hand, do not require folate for the "core" biosynthetic reactions. It is only the very terminal step in the formation of dTMP that requires folate in the form of N5,N10-methylene THF. More about this reaction in the next question...
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