Cytidine Triphosphate Synthase (CTPS)

The catalytic conversion of UTP to CTP is accomplished by the enzyme cytidine-5-prime-triphosphate synthetase (UTP:L-glutamine amido ligase; EC 6.3.4.2). The enzyme is important in the biosynthesis of phospholipids and nucleic acids, and plays a key role in cell growth, development, and tumorigenesis. Thomas et al. (1989) isolated a cDNA clone of the CTP synthetase gene from a rat liver cDNA library. It is a key regulatory enzyme in pyrimidine biosynthesis. These authors have isolated both cDNA and genomic gene sequences from the rat and Chinese hamster.

Yamauchi et al. (1990) cloned the CTPS gene and showed that the open reading frame encodes 591 amino acids that have a striking degree of similarity to the structural gene in E. coli.