orotic, a. Chem.
(ɒˈrɒtɪk)
[ad. It. orotico (Biscaro & Belloni 1905, in Ann. della Soc. Chim. di Milano XI. 18), f. Gr. ὀρό-ς serum, whey + It. -otico -otic.]
orotic acid, a colourless crystalline heterocyclic acid, C4HN2(OH)2COOH, which is found in milk and is a growth factor for some micro-organisms.
| 1905 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXXVIII. i. 672 The occurrence of small crystals of an organic compound in the mother liquor of lactose has led to the discovery of a new acid, orotic acid, which has been found to be a normal constituent of milk. 1944 Nature 26 Feb. 251/2 Four out of five of the strains of Group C streptococci of various types which were tested also needed uracil or orotic acid for optimal growth. 1965 T. L. V. Ulbricht Introd. Nucleic Acids vi. 70 Studies with bacterial mutants showed that orotic acid..was an effective precursor of both DNA and RNA pyrimidines. |
Hence
oˈrotate [
-ate1 c], the anion, or an ester or salt, of orotic acid;
oˈrotidine [
-idine d], a nucleoside containing an orotic acid residue, the phosphate of which is a precursor of pyrimidine nucleotides.
| 1905 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXXVIII. i. 672 Methyl orotate,..a white, crystalline powder with a somewhat bitter taste, melts at 248–250° and dissolves in water or alcohol, forming faintly acid solutions. 1973 Henderson & Paterson Nucleotide Metabolism xi. 182 Under certain circumstances, the carbamyl phosphate product from the liver enzyme may be diverted..into the orotate pathway. |
| 1951 A. M. Michelson et al. in Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XXXVII. 396 (heading) A new ribose nucleoside from Neurospora: ‘orotidine’. 1963 A. M. Michelson Chem. Nucleosides & Nucleotides ii. 44 Periodate oxidation and enzymatic synthesis..and conversion into uridine show that orotidine is 3-β-d-ribofuranosylorotic acid. 1973 J. R. Bronk Chemical Biol. xii. 465 The resulting orotidine 5{p}-phosphate is then decarboxylated to give..uridine 5{p}-phosphate. |