Ribosylpyrimidine nucleosidase () is an enzyme that catalyzes the general chemical reaction
a pyrimidine nucleoside + H2O a pyrimidine base + D-ribose
For example, the enzyme characterised from Pseudomonas fluorescens and Escherichia coli hydrolyses the pyrimidine nucleoside, uridine, to uracil and D-ribose:
Cytidine is also converted to cytosine by this enzyme.
This enzyme is a hydrolase, specifically a glycosylase that hydrolysea N-glycosyl compounds. The systematic name of this enzyme class is pyrimidine-nucleoside ribohydrolase. Other names in use include N-ribosylpyrimidine nucleosidase, pyrimidine nucleosidase, N-ribosylpyrimidine ribohydrolase, pyrimidine nucleoside hydrolase, RihB, YeiK, and nucleoside ribohydrolase.
Structural studies As of late 2007, two structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes and .
See also Uridine nucleosidase which catalyses the same hydrolysis of uridine
References