Glutamate dehydrogenase

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Glutamate dehydrogenase is an enzyme, present in mitochondria of eukaryotes, as are some of the other enzymes required for urea synthesis, that converts glutamate to α-Ketoglutarate, and vice versa. Its cofactor for the glutamate to α-Ketoglutarate reaction, which produces ammonium as well, is NAD⁺. Its cofactor for the reverse reaction, α-Ketoglutarate to glutamate, is NADP⁺. This reverse reaction uses ammonium to incorporate nitrogen into glutamate.

The enzyme represents a key link between catabolic and biosynthetic pathways, and is therefore ubiquitous in both higher and lower organisms.

Ammonia incorporation in animals occurs through the actions of glutamate dehydrogenase and glutamine synthetase. Glutamate plays the central role in mammalian nitrogen flow, serving as both a nitrogen donor and nitrogen acceptor.