Over the past fifteen years, we have unveiled a new mechanism by which cells achieve greater efficiency in de novo purine biosynthesis. This mechanism relies on the compartmentalization of de novo purine biosynthetic enzymes into a dynamic complex called the purinosome. In this review, we highlight our current understanding of the purinosome with emphasis on its biophysical properties and function and on the cellular mechanisms that regulate its assembly. We propose a model for functional purinosomes in which they consist of at least ten enzymes that localize near mitochondria and carry out de novo purine biosynthesis by metabolic channeling. We conclude by discussing challenges and opportunities associated with studying the purinosome and analogous metabolons.

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嘌呤体：哺乳动物代谢的案例研究

在过去的十五年里，我们揭示了一种新的机制，通过这种机制，细胞可以在从头嘌呤生物合成中实现更高的效率。这种机制依赖于从头嘌呤生物合成酶划分成称为嘌呤体的动态复合物。在这篇综述中，我们强调了我们目前对嘌呤体的理解，重点是其生物物理特性和功能以及调节其组装的细胞机制。我们提出了一种功能性嘌呤体模型，其中它们由至少十种位于线粒体附近的酶组成，并通过代谢通道进行从头嘌呤生物合成。最后，我们讨论了与研究嘌呤体和类似代谢物相关的挑战和机遇。