BIOB34H3 Lecture Notes - Protein Catabolism, Glutamine, Urea Cycle
Document Summary
95% of the waste nitrogen you"re producing is coming from protein catabolism. 5% comes from breakdown of purines and pyrimadines. Slide 3: animals can"t store surplus amino acids. If you want to store amino acids, you want to build them into functional proteins: breaking amino acids involves cutting the molecule and getting rid of the amine group. The leftover carbon skeleton is used to build other molecules or oxidized as a source of energy: amino acid catabolism yields ammonia which is toxic for a variety of reasons. Ammonia is toxic largely to the nervous system of animals because it inhibits metabolism in the nervous system so atp levels fall in animals. At the same time, ammonia is good at displacing potassium from transporters. This disrupts electric signals: amino acid catabolism is not a simple process. Only 3 amino acids in our body can have their amino acids directly removed.
