Plasmodium falciparum is incapable of de novo purine biosynthesis, and is absolutely dependent on transporters to salvage purines from the environment. Only one low-affinity adenosine transporter has been characterized to date. In the present study we report a comprehensive study of purine nucleobase and nucleoside transport by intraerythrocytic P. falciparum parasites. Isolated trophozoites ex...

Nucleobase and nucleoside transporters play central roles in the biochemistry of parasitic protozoa, as they lack the ability to synthesize purines de novo and are absolutely reliant upon purine salvage from their hosts. Furthermore, such transporters are potentially critical to the pharmacology of these important human pathogens, because they mediate the uptake of purine analogues, as well as ...

Soybean (Glycine max) and pea (Pisum sativum) differ in the transport of fixed nitrogen from nodules to shoots. The dominant nitrogen transport compounds for soybean are ureides, while amides dominate in pea. A possible enzymic basis for this difference was examined.The level of enzymes involved in the formation of the ureides allantoin and allantoic acid from inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP) was...

Azaserine has been shown to be a potent in hibitor of de novo purine synthesis in both solid tumors (1, 13) and ascites cells (5, 6, 10). The duration of inhibition has been correlated with increases in the survival time of tumor-bearing hosts (7, 8). During inhibition of de novo purine synthesis by azaserine, the ascites cells maintain the ability to utilize preformed purines and pre sumably s...

Cancer cells exhibit altered metabolism including aerobic glycolysis that channels several glycolytic intermediates into de novo purine biosynthetic pathway. We discovered increased expression of phosphoribosyl amidotransferase (PPAT) and phosphoribosylaminoimidazole carboxylase, phosphoribosylaminoimidazole succinocarboxamide synthetase (PAICS) enzymes of de novo purine biosynthetic pathway in...

Purine metabolism in Giardia lamblia was investigated by monitoring incorporation of radiolabeled precursors into purine nucleotides in the log-phase trophozoites cultivated in vitro in axenic media and incubated in buffered saline glucose. The lack of incorporation of formate, glycine, hypoxanthine, inosine, and xanthine into the nucleotide pool suggests the absence of de novo purine nucleotid...

Steps 6 and 7 of de novo purine synthesis are performed by 5-aminoimidazole ribonucleotide carboxylase (AIRc) and 4-[(N-succinylamino)carbonyl]-5-aminoimidazole ribonucleotide synthetase (SAICARs), respectively. In vertebrates, a single gene encodes AIRc-SAICARs with domains homologous to Escherichia coli PurE and PurC. We have isolated an AIRc-SAICARs cDNA from Drosophila melanogaster via func...

5,10-Dideazatetrahydrofolate (DDATHF) is a new antimetabolite designed as an inhibitor of folate metabolism at sites other than dihydrofolate reductase. DDATHF was found to inhibit the growth of L1210 and CCRF-CEM cells in culture at concentrations in the range of 10-30 nM. The inhibitory effect of DDATHF on the growth of L1210 and CCRF-CEM cells was reversed by either hypoxanthine or aminoimid...

Enzymes of the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway may form a multienzyme complex to facilitate substrate flux through the ten serial steps constituting the pathway. One likely strategy for complex formation is the use of a structural scaffold such as the cytoskeletal network or subcellular membrane of the cell to mediate protein-protein interactions. To ascertain whether this strategy pertains...

This work tested the relationship of guanylate and adenylate biosynthesis during the display of the proliferative program of rat hepatoma 3924A cells. Since serine, the major source of one-carbon units, competed with the substrate [14C]formate for purine labeling, serine-free medium was used in the assays. The initial rates of purine de novo synthesis with [14C]formate or L-[3-14C]serine follow...