Regulation of purine nucleotide biosynthesis: in yeast and beyond

Purine nucleotides are critically important for the normal functioning of cells due to their myriad of activities. It is important for cells to maintain a balance in the pool sizes of the adenine-containing and guanine-containing nucleotides, which occurs by a combination of de novo synthesis and salvage pathways that interconvert the purine nucleotides. This review describes the mechanism for regulation of the biosynthetic genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and compares this mechanism with that described in several microbial species.