In enzymology, a 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-hydroxymethyldihydropteridine diphosphokinase is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that catalyzes

Catalysis

Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....

 the chemical reaction

Chemical reaction

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...

ATP + 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropteridine AMP + (2-amino-4-hydroxy-7,8-dihydropteridin-6-yl)methyl diphosphate

Thus, the two substrates

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...

 of this enzyme are 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...

 and 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropteridine, whereas its two products

Product (chemistry)

Product are formed during chemical reactions as reagents are consumed. Products have lower energy than the reagents and are produced during the reaction according to the second law of thermodynamics. The released energy comes from changes in chemical bonds between atoms in reagent molecules and...

 are AMP

Adenosine monophosphate

Adenosine monophosphate , also known as 5'-adenylic acid, is a nucleotide that is used as a monomer in RNA. It is an ester of phosphoric acid and the nucleoside adenosine. AMP consists of a phosphate group, the sugar ribose, and the nucleobase adenine...

 and (2-amino-4-hydroxy-7,8-dihydropteridin-6-yl)methyl diphosphate.

This enzyme belongs to the family of transferase

Transferase

In biochemistry, a transferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of a functional group from one molecule to another . For example, an enzyme that catalyzed this reaction would be a transferase:In this example, A would be the donor, and B would be the acceptor...

s, specifically those transferring two phosphorus-containing groups (diphosphotransferase

Diphosphotransferase

Diphosphotransferase are phosphotransferase enzymes which act upon pyrophosphate groups.They are classified under EC number 2.7.6....

s). The systematic name of this enzyme class is ATP:2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropteridine 6'-diphosphotransferase. Other names in common use include 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-hydroxymethyldihydropteridine pyrophosphokinase, H2-pteridine-CH2OH pyrophosphokinase, 7,8-dihydroxymethylpterin-pyrophosphokinase, HPPK, 7,8-dihydro-6-hydroxymethylpterin pyrophosphokinase, and hydroxymethyldihydropteridine pyrophosphokinase. This enzyme participates in folate biosynthesis.

This enzyme catalyses the first step in a three-step pathway leading to 7,8 dihydrofolate. Bacterial

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

 HPPK (gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

 folK or sulD) is a protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 of 160 to 270 amino acid

Amino acid

Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...

s. In the lower eukaryote

Eukaryote

A eukaryote is an organism whose cells contain complex structures enclosed within membranes. Eukaryotes may more formally be referred to as the taxon Eukarya or Eukaryota. The defining membrane-bound structure that sets eukaryotic cells apart from prokaryotic cells is the nucleus, or nuclear...

 Pneumocystis carinii, HPPK is the central domain

Protein domain

A protein domain is a part of protein sequence and structure that can evolve, function, and exist independently of the rest of the protein chain. Each domain forms a compact three-dimensional structure and often can be independently stable and folded. Many proteins consist of several structural...

 of a multifunctional folate synthesis enzyme (gene fas).

Structural studies

As of late 2007, 23 structures

Tertiary structure

In biochemistry and molecular biology, the tertiary structure of a protein or any other macromolecule is its three-dimensional structure, as defined by the atomic coordinates.-Relationship to primary structure:...

 have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB

Protein Data Bank

The Protein Data Bank is a repository for the 3-D structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids....

accession codes , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .