2025/11/01 by Antoine Danchin, Vı́ctor de Lorenzo, Pablo I. Nikel +1 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Materials Science · #Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology #Enzyme Structure and Function #Metal-Catalyzed Oxygenation Mechanisms
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/1751-7915.70266
openalex publication_date 2025/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/11/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
] exists as a genuine metabolite in many microbes, and its negative effects are mitigated by specific exporters. The metabolic origin of this molecule remains unknown, except in a few cases. We propose here that it results from the deep oxidation of guanine-containing nucleotides derived from 8-oxoguanine in the presence of molecular oxygen. Analysis of the co-evolutionary patterns of guanidine exporters in distant bacteria, together with the analysis of operons involved in purine catabolism, revealed that although purines are generally broken down to urea, guanidine can be produced instead in the presence of molecular oxygen. We investigated how this process could enable guanidine to play a distinct regulatory role in directing metabolism in the presence of molecular oxygen. We propose that it is used as a signal meant to control the generation of reactive oxygen species at an optimal level for the cell.