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biolove biolove
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14 years ago
Why might multifunctional enzymes such as those of the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway of mammals be advantageous to an organism?

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14 years ago
In eukaryotes, the synthesis of pyrimidines is highly dependent on a multifunction protein complex which consists of all the essential enzymes to produce orotate. This enzyme is called dihydrorotate synthase and it consists of aspartate transcarbamoylase, Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase and dihydroorotase. In bacteria (prokaryotes), these are all monofunctional proteins separate from one another (in trans). Therefore, the synthesis of pyrimidines in more complex organisms is more organized and the possibility of one gene being defected is lower than having one of three genes being defected. Moreover, in terms of energy use, less energy is being invested to produce one multifunctional gene than three distinctive separate proteins – also, less targets for inhibition.
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