Deoxyguanosine triphosphate Definition and Examples

Table of Contents

Definition

noun
plural: deoxyguanosine triphosphates
(biochemistry) A nucleotide composed of guanine, deoxyribose and three phosphate units, with a chemical formula: C₁₀H₁₆N₅O₁₃P₃

Details

Overview

A nucleotide is an organic compound made up of three subunits: a nucleobase, a five-carbon sugar, and a phosphate group. The sugar component may either be ribose or deoxyribose. The ribose is the sugar component of the nucleotides that make up RNA. The deoxyribose is the sugar component of DNA. Nucleotides are the monomeric units of nucleic acids. Each phosphate group connects the sugar rings of two adjacent nucleotide monomers. The phosphate groups and the sugar moieties form the backbone of a nucleic acid. The directionality of the chain runs from 5′-end to 3′-end. In DNA, the orientation of the two strands is in opposite directions. This is to allow complementary base pairing between nucleobase constituents. A nucleotide is, thus, a nucleoside with a phosphate group. Depending on the number of phosphate groups attached to the sugar moiety. It may be called nucleoside monophosphate (if with only one phosphate group), nucleoside diphosphate (with two phosphate groups), or nucleoside triphosphate (when with three phosphate groups). Depending on the pentose sugar component, a nucleoside may be a ribonucleoside or a deoxyribonucleoside. A ribonucleoside is a nucleoside with a ribose sugar component. (Depending on the nucleobase component, the ribonucleoside may be adenosine, guanosine, cytidine, uridine, or 5-methyluridine). A deoxyribonucleoside is a nucleoside with a deoxyribose sugar. Depending on the nucleobase component, a deoxyribonucleoside may be deoxyadenosine, deoxyguanosine, deoxycytidine, thymidine, or deoxyuridine. Also, depending on the nucleobase component, the nucleosides may be grouped into either the “double-ringed” purine or the “single-ringed” pyrimidine.
Deoxyguanosine triphosphate is a purine nucleotide composed of guanine, deoxyribose and three phosphate units, with a chemical formula: C₁₀H₁₆N₅O₁₃P₃

Characteristics

Deoxyguanosine triphosphate (dGTP) is a nucleoside phosphate in being comprised of a deoxyribonucleoside and three phosphate units. This means that it has a deoxyribose as its sugar constituent with three phosphate units attached. Its nucleoside contains a purine base, i.e. a guanine attached to the deoxyribose sugar.

dGTP vs GTP

Guanosine triphosphate (GTP) is a nucleotide composed of guanine, ribose and three phosphate units. It has a chemical formula of C₁₀H₁₆N₅O₁₄P₃. It differs from dGTP in terms of the sugar component. dGTP, instead of having a hydroxyl group on the 2′ carbon on the on pentose sugar as it is in GTP, has it reduced to a hydrogen atom (thus, deoxy- in its name).

Biological functions

dGTP is one of the monomeric nucleotides that make up DNA. The others are deoxycytidine triphosphate (dCTP), deoxyadenosine triphosphate (dATP), and (deoxy)thymidine triphosphate (dTTP). In DNA, dGTP complementary base pairs with dCTP. dGTP is also a metabolite that has been observed in the following biological processes: purine metabolism, azathioprine action pathway, mercaptopurine action pathway, and thioguanine action pathway.¹

Supplementary

Abbreviation(s)

dGTP

IUPAC name

({({(2R,3S,5R)-5-(2-amino-6-oxo-6,9-dihydro-1H-purin-9-yl)-3-hydroxyoxolan-2-ylmethoxy}(hydroxy)phosphoryl)oxy(hydroxy)phosphoryl}oxy)phosphonic acid

Chemical formula

C₁₀H₁₆N₅O₁₃P₃

Synonyms

deoxyguanosine triphosphoric acid

deoxy-GTP

Human Metabolome Database: Showing metabocard for dGTP (HMDB0001440). (2019). Retrieved from Hmdb.ca website: ://www.hmdb.ca/metabolites/HMDB0001440 Link