Cytidine triphosphate

Cytidine triphosphate is a pyrimidine nucleoside triphosphate.

CTP, much like ATP, consists of a ribose sugar, and three phosphate groups. The major difference between the two molecules is the base used, which in CTP is cytosine.

CTP is a substrate in the synthesis of RNA.

CTP is a high-energy molecule similar to ATP, but its role as an energy coupler is limited to a much smaller subset of metabolic reactions. CTP is a coenzyme in metabolic reactions like the synthesis of glycerophospholipids and glycosylation of proteins.

CTP acts as an inhibitor of the enzyme Aspartate carbamoyltransferase, which is used in pyrimidine biosynthesis.