We describe an assay for 5-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (EC4.2.1.24) activity. Radioactive [14Cjporphobilinogen, formed by action of this enzyme on [14CJo-aminolevulinic acid, is purified by passage through an ion-exchange chromatographic column before measurement with a liquid scintillation counter. The radioactive substance in the final solution was identified as solely [14C]porphobilinoge...

Glutamate was converted to the chlorophyll and heme precursor delta-aminolevulinic acid in soluble extracts of Euglena gracilis. delta-Aminolevulinic acid-forming activity depended on the presence of native enzyme, glutamate, ATP, Mg2+, NADPH or NADH, and RNA. The requirement for reduced pyridine nucleotide was observed only if, prior to incubation, the enzyme extract was filtered through activ...

The mold Neurospora crassa does not accumulate porphyrins in iron deficiency but instead accumulates the sideramine desferricoprogen. In iron deficiency there is an accumulation of &aminolevulinic acid and the d-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase level is very low. A similar situation exists in cobalt toxicity and zinc deficiency. The b-aminolevulinic acid synthetase and ferroprotoporphyrin chelat...

Photodynamic therapy and photodynamic diagnosis using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) are clinically useful for cancer treatments. Cancer cells have been reported that 5-aminolevulinic acid is incorporated via peptide transporter 1, which is one of the membrane transport proteins, and has been reported to be significantly expressed in various gastrointestinal cancer cells such as Caco-2. However, t...