Purines and Pyrimidines

The purines and pyrimidines form an important part of the DNA and RNA which form the blueprint of genomes. The base pairing between the nucleotides result into the formation of important bonds required in chemical reactions.

What Are Purines and Pyrimidines?
The purines and pyrimidines are nucleotides which form the building blocks of nucleic acids. The commonly found purines are adenine and guanine while cytosine, thymine and uracil are the pyrimidines widely present in the nucleotides. Let us understand what are purines and pyrimidines in detail in the following paragraphs.

The term purine was coined by Emil Fischer a German chemist in the year 1884. The purines which are biologically synthesized as nucleosides are produced by means of many metabolic pathways of different organisms. The purines are found in many molecules other than DNA & RNA such as ATP, NADH, GTP, cyclic AMP and co-enzyme A. The purines are mostly found in meat products. The plant based diet doesn't contain large amount of purines. The rich sources of purines are the sardines, anchovies, sweetbreads, etc. High intake of meats containing purines is associated with gout. Thus, one should consider eating a low purine diet. Read more on low purine diet tips.

The chemical properties of pyrimidines are similar to that of pyridines. The pyrimidines can be produced by the process of organic synthesis. Biginelli reaction is one of the methods of synthesizing the pyrimidines.

These are aromatic heterocyclic organic compounds which consist of the pyrimidine ring fused to a ring of imidazole. The molecules like guanine, adenine are the derivatives of the class known as purine which is not an actual/real molecule in itself. In short, these derivatives are the manifestation of a 'virtual' class called purine. The purines, adenine and guanine are involved in the process of DNA synthesis through their participation in high-energy bonding. The purines and pyrimidines are incorporated in the growth of RNA and DNA during the process of transcription or DNA replication. Short-term energy storage is also one of the functions of purines and pyrimidines.

In the process of nucleotide synthesis, the purines and pyrimidines form hydrogen bonds between each other. The structure of the nucleotides is such that three hydrogen bonds are formed between guanine and cytosine while adenine and thymine form two hydrogen bonds with each other. This bonding which takes place between purines and pyrimidines is known as base pairing.

Difference between Purines and Pyrimidines
The difference between purines and pyrimidines is that the carbon-ring present in the pyrimidines is just the single one i.e. thymine and cytosine. In the case of purines, the carbon-rings are two number.

The above article deals with the information about purines and pyrimidines, explains what are purines and pyrimidines actually, and also the purines and pyrimidines difference; thus it gives a rough idea about these nucleotides.