Put basic info about uricase here
Function
It is an enzyme that converts uric acid to allantoin. Allantoin is much more soluble than uric acid, and passes harmlessly from the body. Unfortunately, during evolution, humans have lost the ability to produce uricase (also called urate oxidase).
Disease
If there is some damage to uricase or if it is absent in the body, it may be detrimental. Without functioning uricase, there will be an excess amount of insoluble uric acid in the body which leads to a disease called gout. Gout is a form of inflammatory arthritis that develops in people who have high levels of uric acid in the blood. The acid forms needle-like crystals in joints and causes sudden, severe episodes of pain, redness, and swelling.
Relevance
Uricase is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion or uric acid to allantoin. Uric acid is
an acidic waste product that your body passes through urine. It is a normal byproduct of the
breakdown of foods that contain purines. Normally, the kidneys filter out uric acid from your
blood; if too much builds up, it can lower the pH of your blood and urine and lead to a painful
joint condition called gout and other complications. Interestingly, humans have naturally selected to
terminate uricase. Because of the absence of uricase in humans, we may go through many
complications caused by uric acid build up. Scientists are studying why natural selection would
allow the accumulation of uric acid even though there are psychological complications of
crystalized monosodium urate acutely causing liver and kidney damage or chronically causing
gout.
Structural highlights
This is without a ligand.
You can view uricase with a ligand
