BIOSYNTHESIS OF SERINE IN ESCHERICHIA COLI AND SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM

Umbarger, H. E. (Long Island Biological Association, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), Merle A. Umbarger, and Patrick M. L. Siu. Biosynthesis of serine in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. J. Bacteriol. 85:1431-1439. 1963.-Evidence for the operation in extracts of Escherichia coli of a pathway from glucose to serine involving 3-phosphoglycerate, phosphohydroxypyruvate, and phosphoserine as intermediates was obtained by the technique of isotopic competition. The steps of the pathway were demonstrated in extracts of E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The first reaction was studied in the reverse of the biosynthetic direction by observing the disappearance of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide in the presence of phosphohydroxypyruvate. The enzyme catalyzing this reaction was missing in two E. coli mutants that required serine or glycine for growth and in a representative of one of two genetically distinct classes of S. typhimurium serine-glycine auxotrophs. The second reaction, the amination of phosphohydroxypyruvate, was also studied in the reverse of the biosynthetic direction using alpha-ketoglutarate as the amino acceptor in a transamination reaction with phosphoserine. The final step, the cleavage of phosphoserine, could not be catalyzed by extracts prepared from cells of S. typhimurium serine-glycine auxotrophs of the second genetic class. It has been concluded that these three reactions provide the only significant pathway to serine in these organisms.

THE CYTONUCLEOPROTEINS OF AMEBAE. I. SOME CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND INTRACELLULAR DISTRIBUTION

Autoradiographs of whole Amoeba proteus host cells fixed after the implantation of single nuclei from A. proteus donors labeled with any one of 8 different radioactive amino acids showed that the label had become highly concentrated in the host cell nucleus as well as in the donor nucleus and that the cytoplasmic activity was relatively low. When these amebae were sectioned, the radioactivity was found to be homogeneously distributed throughout the nuclei. The effect of unlabeled amino acid "chaser," the solubility of the labeled material, and the long-term behavior of the labeled material gave evidence that the radioactivity was in protein. At equilibrium, the host cell nucleus contained approximately 30 per cent of the radioactivity distributed between the two nuclei. This unequal nuclear distribution is attributed to the presence of two classes of nuclear proteins: a non-migratory one that does not leave the nucleus during interphase, and a migratory one, called cytonucleoprotein, that shuttles between nucleus and cytoplasm in a non-random manner. It is estimated that between 12 per cent and 44 per cent of the cytonucleoproteins are present in the cytoplasm of a binucleate cell at any one moment. Nuclei of Chaos chaos host cells also concentrated label acquired from implanted radioactive A. proteus nuclei.

THE CYTONUCLEOPROTEINS OF AMEBAE. II. SOME ASPECTS OF CYTONUCLEOPROTEIN BEHAVIOR AND SYNTHESIS

Radioactivity, apparently in cytonucleoproteins, from an amino acid-labeled nucleus implanted into a non-radioactive cell appeared in the host nucleus within 10 minutes, and the typical equilibrium ratio 70:30 donor nucleus radioactivity:host nucleus radioactivity was reached in 4 to 5 hours at 25°C. If such binucleates grew and divided, no localization of radioactivity was observable in cells fixed during mitosis, but the protein label remained concentrated in the daughter interphase nuclei for at least 4 generations. Continued migration of cytonucleoproteins was observed if these daughter nuclei were transplanted to other unlabeled cells. The Q₁₀ (19° to 29°C) of the migration rate of radioactive cytonucleoproteins was ca. 1.3, suggesting that passage through the cytoplasm occurred by diffusion. Both non-migratory nuclear proteins and cytonucleoproteins appear to be synthesized in the cytoplasm.

CHARACTERISTICS AND INTERMEDIATES OF SHORT-TERM C-14-O-2 INCORPORATION DURING RIBOSE OXIDATION BY HYDROGENOMONAS FACILIS

McFadden, B. A. (Washington State University, Pullman), and H. R. Homann. Characteristics and intermediates of short-term C(14)O(2) incorporation during ribose oxidation by Hydrogenomonas facilis. J. Bacteriol. 89:839-847. 1965.-Ribose-grown cells of Hydrogenomonas facilis, which had been suspended in growth medium and were oxidizing ribose, were exposed to HC(14)O(3) (-) of high specific activity. The uptake was proportional to cell mass. Short-term uptake (less than 2 min) was completely inhibited by 10(-3)m 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) or by <4 x 10(-6)mm-chlorocarbonyl cyanide phenylhydrazone, and to the extent of 42% by 5 x 10(-5)m DNP. The following observations were made in kinetic studies (8, 16, 35, 67, 96, and 181 sec) of fixation in the presence of ribose. Glutamate was extensively labeled in periods up to 3 min. It was one of the major early products, containing 30% of the label at 8 sec. The sugar phosphate fraction was not detectably labeled at 8 or 16 sec, but its C(14)-content increased rapidly to 27% at 35 sec and then slowly decreased. Label in phosphoglycerate, phosphoenolpyruvate, and alanine did not appear until 35 sec, and did not exceed about 7, 2, and 3%, respectively, of the total extracted radioactivity. Adenosine triphosphate and adenosine diphosphate were heavily labeled after fixation in a pilot study for 125 sec. Although considerable radioactivity incorporated during the pilot study was intractable by the extraction procedure employed, virtually no C(14) was found in the residue in poly-beta-hydroxybutyric acid. A large number of amino acids and organic acids and some organic phosphates were not detectably labeled in any of the experiments. Omission of ribose greatly diminished incorporation, particularly into glutamate.

SOURCE OF FAT OXIDATION IN EXERCISING DOGS

Dogs with indwelling arterial and venous catheters ran on a treadmill for 30–40 min. Palmitate-1-C14 was infused intravenously. The rate of FFA uptake increased linearly with FFA concentration during rest and exercise. At rest 20– 22% of the FFA uptake was oxidized; during exercise this figure rose to 80–90%. About 50% of the fat-CO2 could be ascribed to immediate oxidation of plasma FFA. The radioactivity and specific activity of the plasma EFA showed no marked change during exercise. When a 3-hr infusion was stopped 5 min before exercise, the radioactivity in the plasma FFA fraction decreased rapidly in the first 10 min of exercise, followed by a very low but constant disappearance rate. The disappearance of radioactivity from the plasma (FFA and EFA combined) during exercise was less than 1% of the C14O2 output. Therefore, it was concluded that the intracellular fat pool plays an important role as an energy source, whereas the plasma EFA did not seem to participate appreciably in the 6-fold elevated metabolism.

ORIGIN OF PALMITIC ACID CARBON IN PALMITATES FORMED FROM HEXADECANE-1-C-14 AND TETRADECANE-1-C-14 BY MICROCOCCUS CERIFICANS

Finnerty, W. R. (University of Iowa, Iowa City), and R. E. Kallio. Origin of palmitic acid carbon in palmitates formed from hexadecane-1-C(14) and tetradecane-1-C(14) by Micrococcus cerificans. J. Bacteriol. 87:1261-1265. 1964.-Degradation of the palmitic acid moiety of cetyl palmitate and myristyl palmitate formed from hexadecane-1-C(14) and tetradecane-1-C(14) by Micrococcus cerificans was carried out. The patterns of C(14) labeling in palmitic acid from cetyl palmitate showed that hexadecane is oxidized at the C(1) position, and cetyl alcohol and palmitic acid thus formed are directly esterified. Palmitic acid arising from tetradecane and esterified to tetradecanol appeared to have been synthesized by the addition of two carbon atoms to an existing 14-carbon atom skeleton. Considerable mixing of C(14) occurred in the C(1) and C(2) positions of palmitic acid thus synthesized.