J. P. M. S. Lima

Evolutionary divergence of uric acid catabolic enzymes: structure–function constraints and genomic innovations across taxa

Uric acid degradation is a model for understanding how gene duplication, loss, and functional divergence drive metabolic evolution. In hominoids and uricotelic animals, uric acid is the terminal purine catabolite, whereas most other taxa further degrade it to allantoin and beyond. Comparative genomics and structura...