LIGASE

also called Synthetase any one of a class of about 50 enzymes that catalyze reactions involving the conservation of chemical energy and provide a couple between energy-demanding synthetic processes and energy-yielding breakdown reactions. They catalyze the joining of two molecules, deriving the needed energy from the cleavage of an energy-rich phosphate bond (in many cases, by the simultaneous conversion of adenosine triphosphate to adenosine diphosphate ). A ligase catalyzing the formation of a carbon-oxygen bond between an amino acid and transfer RNA is called amino acidRNA ligase. Carbonnitrogen (C-N) bonds are formed by the action of such enzymes as amide synthetases and peptide synthetases.