Uridine Diphosphate (UDP)

Uridine diphosphate is a nucleotide. It is an ester of pyrophosphoric acid with the nucleoside uridine. UDP consists of the pyrophosphate group, the pentose sugar ribose, and the nucleobase uracil. Uridine diphosphate glucose is a nucleotide sugar. It is involved in glycosyltransferase reactions in metabolism.It is used in nucleotide sugars metabolism as an activated form of glucose as a substrate for enzymes called glucosyltransferases.It is a precursor of glycogen and can be converted into UDP-galactose and UDP-glucuronic acid, which can then be used as substrates by the enzymes that make polysaccharides containing galactose and glucuronic acid.UDP-glucose can also be used as a precursor of sucrose lipopolysaccharides, and glycosphingolipids.