Metabolism Quiz
Enzyme deficiency

OTC deficiency

What is missing: Ornithine transcarbamoylase.

Presentation
Hyperammonemia, vomiting, lethargy and cerebral edema, often after a protein load

Why the signs follow

The most common urea cycle disorder and the only X-linked one. Carbamoyl phosphate backs up out of the mitochondrion into pyrimidine synthesis, producing orotic aciduria, but with no megaloblastic anemia, which separates it from orotic aciduria proper.

Written for exam preparation, not for diagnosis.