Living with urea stress.
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Date
2009-06
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Abstract
Intracellular organic osmolytes are present in certain organisms adapted to harsh environments. These osmolytes
protect intracellular macromolecules against denaturing environmental stress. In contrast to the usually benign effects
of most organic osmolytes, the waste product urea is a well-known perturbant of macromolecules. Although urea is a
perturbing solute which inhibits enzyme activity and stability, it is employed by some species as a major osmolyte. The
answer to this paradox was believed to be the discovery of protective osmolytes (methylamines). We review the current
state of knowledge on the various ways of counteracting the harmful effects of urea in nature and the mechanisms for
this. This review ends with the mechanistic idea that cellular salt (KCl/NaCl) plays a crucial role in counteracting the
effects of urea, either by inducing required chaperones or methylamines, or by thermodynamic interactions with ureadestabilised
proteins. We also propose future opportunities and challenges in the field.
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Singh Laishram R, Dar Tanveer Ali, Ahmad Faizan. Living with urea stress. Journal of Biosciences. 2009 Jun; 34(2): 321-331.