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urease activity

traitmech:000077 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A physiological enzyme-activity phenotype in which a cell produces urease, which hydrolyzes urea to ammonia and carbon dioxide, typically raising local pH; it is the basis of the diagnostic urease test.

Urease-catalyzed urea hydrolysis

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking urease to hydrolysis of urea into ammonia, the basis of the urease test.

Urease-catalyzed urea hydrolysis Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for urease activity.

Edge evidence

  • urease enables urease activity RO:0002327

    Urease carries out urea hydrolysis.

    • DOI:10.1128/mr.59.3.451-480.1995 Mobley, Island & Hausinger review microbial ureases.
  • urease activity consumes urea biolink:consumes

    The urease reaction consumes urea.

    • DOI:10.1128/mr.59.3.451-480.1995 Supports urea as the hydrolysis substrate.
  • urease activity produces ammonia METPO:2000202

    Urea hydrolysis produces ammonia.

    • DOI:10.1128/mr.53.1.85-108.1989 Mobley & Hausinger support ammonia release from urea hydrolysis.
  • urease activity manifests as urease activity METPO:2007400

    Urease enzymatic activity manifests as the observable urease-activity phenotype scored by the diagnostic urease test.

    • DOI:10.1128/mr.59.3.451-480.1995 Urease activity (urea-to-ammonia hydrolysis raising local pH) is the assayable phenotype used to score urease-positive organisms.
  • urease activity produces hydroxide METPO:2000202

    Urea hydrolysis produces hydroxide, mechanistically explaining alkalinization.

    • DOI:10.24263/2304-974x-2024-13-2-10 (NH2)2CO + 2H2O + urease -> 2 NH4+ + 2 OH- + CO2 + urease.
  • urease activity produces carbon dioxide METPO:2000202

    Urea hydrolysis produces carbon dioxide.

    • DOI:10.24263/2304-974x-2024-13-2-10 (NH2)2CO + 2H2O + urease -> 2 NH4+ + 2 OH- + CO2 + urease.
  • urease activity increases pH RO:0002213

    Urea hydrolysis (NH4+/OH- production) increases local pH, the basis of the urease test color change.

    • DOI:10.1021/acs.est.3c06617 Urea hydrolysis produces NH4+ and OH-, causing a pH increase.
  • carbon dioxide is substrate of carbonic anhydrase activity

    CO2 from urea hydrolysis is hydrated by carbonic anhydrase.

    • DOI:10.1021/acs.est.3c06617 Hydration of CO2 to HCO3- by carbonic anhydrase.
  • carbonic anhydrase activity increases bicarbonate RO:0002213

    Carbonic anhydrase hydrates CO2, increasing bicarbonate.

    • DOI:10.1021/acs.est.3c06617 Increase in [HCO3-] following the hydration of CO2 to HCO3- by CA.
  • carbonic anhydrase activity affects calcium carbonate precipitation

    CA-driven buffering enhances solubility trapping and affects the CaCO3 phase formed.

    • DOI:10.1021/acs.est.3c06617 CA physiologically promotes buffering, which enhances solubility trapping and affects the phase of the CaCO3 mineral formed.

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1128/mr.59.3.451-480.1995

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (1)

  • urease-positive RELATED_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1128/mr.59.3.451-480.1995

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.

  • METPO:1000059 [-2.682, -2.070, -3.656, -0.652, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude

    Proposed candidate PHYSIOLOGY trait (urease activity) from literature research to fill the enzyme-activity-phenotype gap.

  2. · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added evidence-backed causal graph (urease urea hydrolysis) with GO/CHEBI node groundings and RO/METPO/biolink predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.

  3. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A090IGX8×1).

  4. · FIX_ORPHAN_NODE · claude

    Connected the previously-orphaned urease_activity_trait node via a 'manifests as' (METPO:2007400) edge from urease_function, so the molecular function links to the observable trait.

  5. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 6 evidence-backed generic edges (6 new nodes) from the deep-research report.

  6. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 4 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (METPO:2000202×2, RO:0002213×2).

  7. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (CHEBI:16526×1).

  8. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 3 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (CHEBI:16234×1, GO:0004089×1, CHEBI:17544×1).