Question

The degradation of cytosine, uracil, and thymine have what two degradation products in common?What other degradation products result from catabolism of cytosine and uracil? What other end products result from the catabolism of thymine?

Answer 1

The two common degradation products of cytosine, uracil, and thymine are deoxyribose and a phosphate group. Cytosine and uracil can undergo deamination to yield uracil and base pair substitutions, respectively, while thymine can form dimers due to UV radiation causing replication issues unless corrected.

Step-by-step explanation:

The degradation of cytosine, uracil, and thymine, the nitrogenous bases found in nucleic acids, leads to several degradation products. Of these, the two degradation products that cytosine, uracil, and thymine have in common are deoxyribose and a phosphate group. These components are part of the nucleotide structure from which these nitrogenous bases are released during catabolism.

When cytosine undergoes spontaneous deamination, it is converted to uracil. This can cause mutations in DNA if not correctly repaired by mechanisms that enzymatically remove the uracil and replace it with the correct cytosine. Similarly, the deamination of uracil does not yield another nitrogenous base but can still result in base pair substitution if replicated without repair.

Thymine catabolism, on the other hand, differs in that it does not undergo deamination like cytosine and uracil, because it lacks amino groups. However, thymine can form dimers with another adjacent thymine due to UV radiation, which can disrupt DNA replication if not corrected by mechanisms that remove or disrupt the dimers.