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What is tautomeric form?

What is tautomeric form?

A reaction which involves simple proton transfer in an intramolecular fashion is called a tautomerism. Keto-enol tautomerism is a very common process, and is acid or base catalysed. Typically the ‘keto’ form of the compound is more stable, but in some instances the ‘enol’ form can be the more stable.

How do tautomers form?

An error in DNA replication can occur when an illegitimate nucleotide pair (say, A–C) forms in DNA synthesis, leading to a base substitution. Each of the bases in DNA can appear in one of several forms, called tautomers, which are isomers that differ in the positions of their atoms and in the bonds between the atoms.

What is tautomerism give an example?

Consider few examples of tautomerism given below: Page 2 Ketone-enol, enamine-imine,lactam-lactim, etc are some of the examples of tautomers. In this phenomenon, there is an exchange of a hydrogen atom between two other atoms while forming a covalent bond to either one. Tautomerism is a reversible process.

Which pairs are tautomers?

Common tautomeric pairs include:

  • ketone – enol: H−O−C=C ⇌ O=C−C−H, see keto–enol tautomerism.
  • enamine – imine: H−N−C=C ⇌ N=C−C−H.
  • amide – imidic acid: H−N−C=O ⇌ N=C−O−H (e.g., the latter is encountered during nitrile hydrolysis reactions)
  • imine – imine, e.g., during pyridoxal phosphate catalyzed enzymatic reactions.

Why is uracil used instead of thymine?

Uracil is energetically less expensive to produce than thymine, which may account for its use in RNA. In DNA, however, uracil is readily produced by chemical degradation of cytosine, so having thymine as the normal base makes detection and repair of such incipient mutations more efficient.

What happens if uracil is in DNA?

Uracil from DNA can be removed by DNA repair enzymes with apirymidine site as an intermediate. However, if uracil is not removed from DNA a pair C:G in parental DNA can be changed into a T:A pair in the daughter DNA molecule. Therefore, uracil in DNA may lead to a mutation.

Why does uracil undergo amide-imidic acid tautomeric shifts?

Uracil undergoes amide-imidic acid tautomeric shifts because any nuclear instability the molecule may have from the lack of formal aromaticity is compensated by the cyclic-amidic stability. The amide tautomer is referred to as the lactam structure, while the imidic acid tautomer is referred to as the lactim structure.

Is the nucleobase uracil or thymine demethylated?

In DNA, the uracil nucleobase is replaced by thymine. Uracil is a demethylated form of thymine . Uracil is a common and naturally occurring pyrimidine derivative.

How does uracil recycle itself to form nucleotides?

Uracil also recycles itself to form nucleotides by undergoing a series of phosphoribosyltransferase reactions. Degradation of uracil produces the substrates aspartate, carbon dioxide, and ammonia.

What kind of molecules are found in uracil?

Based on 12 C/ 13 C isotopic ratios of organic compounds found in the Murchison meteorite, it is believed that uracil, xanthine, and related molecules can also be formed extraterrestrially. In 2012, an analysis of data from the Cassini mission orbiting in the Saturn system showed that Titan ‘s surface composition may include uracil.