Cytidine triphosphate is a pyrimidine

Pyrimidine

Pyrimidine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound similar to benzene and pyridine, containing two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 of the six-member ring...

 nucleoside triphosphate

Nucleoside triphosphate

Nucleoside triphosphate is a nucleoside with three phosphates. Natural nucleoside triphosphates include adenosine triphosphate , guanosine triphosphate , cytidine triphosphate , 5-methyluridine triphosphate , and uridine triphosphate . These terms refer to those nucleoside triphosphates that...

.

CTP is a substrate

Substrate (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...

 in the synthesis of RNA

RNA

Ribonucleic acid , or RNA, is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life....

.

CTP is a high-energy molecule equal to ATP

Adenosine triphosphate

Adenosine-5'-triphosphate is a multifunctional nucleoside triphosphate used in cells as a coenzyme. It is often called the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer. ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism...

, but its role in the organism is more specific than that of ATP.

CTP is used as the source of energy, and as a coenzyme in metabolic reactions like the synthesis of glycerophospholipids and glycosylation

Glycosylation

Glycosylation is the reaction in which a carbohydrate, i.e. a glycosyl donor, is attached to a hydroxyl or other functional group of another molecule . In biology glycosylation refers to the enzymatic process that attaches glycans to proteins, lipids, or other organic molecules...

 of proteins.

CTP also acts as an inhibitor of the enzyme Aspartate carbamoyltransferase

Aspartate carbamoyltransferase

Aspartate carbamoyltransferase catalyzes the first step in the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway .In E. coli, the enzyme is a multi-subunit protein complex composed of 12 subunits...

See also

• cytidine
  Cytidine
  Cytidine is a nucleoside molecule that is formed when cytosine is attached to a ribose ring via a β-N1-glycosidic bond...
  
  
• pyrimidine biosynthesis
• CTP synthase
  CTP synthase
  CTP synthase is an enzyme involved in pyrimidine biosynthesis that interconverts UTP and CTP.- Enzyme Structure :...