Guanosine phosphate compounds

Guanosine phosphate compounds are cellular energy intermediates. They consist of:

• the nitrogenous base, guanine
• the sugar ribose
• 1-3 phosphate groups forming guanosine mono-, di- and triphosphate respectively (GMP, GDP, GTP)

Similar to the adenosine phosphate family, the energy held within the terminal phosphate bond of a given compound can be liberated in coupled reactions. The addition of inorganic phosphate groups to either GMP or GDP results in compounds of increasing energy storage. An example of such a reaction is the formation of GTP from coupling with the conversion of succinyl-CoA to succinate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle.