Pyrimidine oxygenase (, gene RutA) is an enzyme characterised from Escherichia coli with systematic name ). It catalyses two related oxidation reactions which act on pyrimidine nucleobases.
The overall effect of the first example is to convert uracil to (Z)-3-ureidoacrylic acid with molecular oxygen as the oxidant and flavin mononucleotide (FMN) as a cofactor. The enzyme also requires nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH):
The initial product of that enzyme is the peracid of ureidoacrylic acid, to which it spontaneously converts.
Pyrimidine oxygenase can also use thymine as a substrate and in that case its product is (Z)-2-methylureidoacrylic acid:
In the full pathway, the next step is catalysed by ureidoacrylate amidohydrolase and the sequence of reactions allows E. coli to grow on uracil as the sole nitrogen source. References
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