Prototrophic regulatory mutants of adenylosuccinate synthetase in yeast

Hypoxanthine: guanine phosphoribosyltransferase mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Yeast mutants lacking activity of the enzyme hypoxanthine:guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (H:G-PRT) have been isolated by selecting for resistance to 8-azaguanine in a strain carrying the wild type allele, ade4%, of the gene coding for amidophosphoribosyltransferase (PRPPAT), the first enzyme of de novo purine synthesis. The mutants excrete purines and are cross-resistant to 8-azaadenine. They are recessive and represent a single complementation group, designated hpt1. Ade4-su, a prototrophic allele of ade4 with reduced activity of PRPPAT, is epistatic to hpt1, suppressing purine excretion and resistance to azaadenine but not resistance to azaguanine. The genotype ade2hpt1 does not respond to hypoxanthine. Hpt1 complements and is not closely linked to the purine excreting mutants pur1 to pur5. Hpt1 and pur6, a regultory mutant of PRPPAT, are also unlinked but do not complement, suggesting a protein-protein interaction between H:G-PRT and PRPPAT. Mycophenolic acid (MPA), an inhibitor of de novo guanine nucleotide synthesis, inhibits the growth of hpt1 and hpt1+. Xanthine allows both genotypes to grow in the presence of MPA whereas guanine only allows growth of hpt1+. Activity of A-PRT, X-PRT and H:G-PRT is present in hpt+. Hpt1 lacks activity of H:G-PRT but has normal A-PRT and X-PRT.

A novel synergistic effect of alanosine and guanine on adenine nucleotide synthesis in mammalian cells. Alanosine as a useful probe for investigating purine nucleotide metabolism

A novel synergistic effect of the antitumor agent alanosine (2-amino-3-(hydroxynitrosoamino) propionic acid), which specifically inhibits the enzyme adenylosuccinate synthetase (ASS) and guanine on the growth of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and human diploid fibroblasts (HDF) has been observed. In the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of alanosine, both CHO cells and the HDF show excessive sensitivity to exogenous guanine--a phenotype which closely resembles that seen with some of the mutants containing reduced enzymatic activity of ASS. The growth inhibitory effects of alanosine, or alanosine and guanine, on CHO cells are completely reverted by the addition of adenine to the culture medium, and the synergistic effect of guanine is not observed in mutants which lack the enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase. These resuls suggest that guanine nucleotides exert a regulatory effect on the activity of the enzyme adenylosuccinate synthetase. The ability to confer the guanine-sensitive phenotype and its modulation by subinhibitory concentrations of alanosine in different cell types indicates that alanosine provides a useful probe for investigating the regulation of purine nucleotide metabolism in mammalian cells.

Abnormal regulation of de novo purine synthesis and purine salvage in a cultured mouse T-cell lymphoma mutant partially deficient in adenylosuccinate synthetase

The isolation and characterization of a mutant murine T-cell lymphoma (S49) with altered purine metabolism is described. This mutant, AU-100, was isolated from a mutagenized population of S49 cells by virtue of its resistance to 0.1 mM 6-azauridine in semisolid agarose. The AU-100 cells are resistant to adenosine mediated cytotoxicity but are extraordinarily sensitive to killing by guanosine. High performance liquid chromatography of AU-100 cell extracts has demonstrated that intracellular levels of GTP, IMP, and GMP are all elevated about 3-fold over those levels found in wild type cells. The AU-100 cells also contain an elevated intracellular level of pyrophosphoribosylphosphate (PPriboseP), which as in wild type cells is diminished by incubation of AU-100 cells with adenosine. However AU-100 cells synthesize purines de novo at a rate less than 35% of that found in wild type cells. In other growth rate experiments, the AU-100 cell line was shown to be resistant to 6-thioguanine and 6-mercaptopurine. Levels of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRTase) measured in AU-100 cell extracts, however, are 50-66% greater than those levels of HGPRTase found in wild type cell extracts. Nevertheless this mutant S49 cell line cannot efficiently incorporate labeled hypoxanthine into nucleotides since the salvage enzyme HGPRTase is inhibited in vivo. The AU-100 cell line was found to be 80% deficient in adenylosuccinate synthetase, but these cells are not auxotrophic for adenosine or other purines. The significant alterations in the control of purine de novo and salvage metabolism caused by the defect in adenylosuccinate synthetase are mediated by the resulting increased levels of guanosine nucleotides.

Biochemical genetics of Chinese hamster cell mutants with deviant purine metabolism. VI. Enzymatic studies of two mutants unable to convert inosinic acid to adenylic acid

Ade-H and ade-I are two auxotrophic mutants of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells which specifically require adenine as the purine source to grow. The enzymatic defects of these mutants were examined in cell-free extracts. It was found that ade-H did not have any detectable adenylosuccinate synthetase activity and ade-I was defective in the adenylosuccinate lyase enzyme. The relevance of adenine-requiring mutants to the study of the regulation of purine metabolism in mammalian cells is discussed.

Biochemical genetics of Chinese hamster cell mutants with deviant purine metabolism. IV. Isolation of a mutant which accumulates adenylosuccinic acid and succinylaminoimidazole carboxamide ribotide

The production, isolation, and characterization of a new complementation group (Ade-I) of adenine-requiring mutant of Chinese hamster cells (CHO-K1) is described. This mutant accumulates two intermediates of purine biosynthesis, both of which contain an aspartate moiety. One of these is shown to be adenylosuccinic acid (AMPS) by chromatographic analysis, while evidence is presented that strongly suggests the other intermediate is succinylaminoimidazole carboxamide ribotide (SAICAR). Thus, Ade-I is most likely lacking the activity of the enzyme adenylosuccinase (EC 4.3.2.2). The use of this and similar mutants for the analysis of regulation of purine biosynthesis in mammalian cells is discussed.

Biochemical genetics of Chinese hamster cell mutants with deviant purine metabolism III. Isolation and characterization of a mutant unable to convert IMP to AMP

The isolation and characterization of a new mutant of Chinese ovary cells (CHO-K1) is described. This mutant, Ade-H, has the following properties: (1) it forms a new genetic complementation group; (2) it specifically requires adenine for growth and will not grow on aminoimidazole carboxamide (AIC) or hypoxanthine; (3) it accumulates IMP; (4) it cannot synthesize adenine nucleotides; (5) its phenotype can be mimicked by treatment of CHO-K1 (the wild type parental strain) with hadacidin, an inhibitor of adenylosuccinate synthetase (E.C.6.3.4.4). Thus, the site of the defect in this mutant is presumed to involve the step in adenylate biosynthesis catalyzed by this enzyme. The usefulness of Ade-H for the study of regulation of purine biosynthesis in mammalian cells is discussed.

Involvement of threonine deaminase in repression of the isoleucine-valine and leucine pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

l-Threonine deaminase (l-threonine dehydratase [deaminating], EC 4.2.2.16) has been shown to be involved in the regulation of three of the enzymes of isoleucine-valine biosynthesis in yeast. Mutations affecting the affinity of the enzyme for isoleucine also affected the repression of acetohydroxyacid synthase, dihydroxyacid dehydrase, and reductoisomerase. The data indicate that isoleucine must be bound for effective repression of these enzymes to take place. In a strain with a nonsense mutation midway in liv 1, the gene for threonine deaminase, starvation for isoleucine or valine did not lead to derepression of the three enzymes; starvation for leucine did. The effect of the nonsense mutation is recessive; it is tentatively concluded, therefore, that intact threonine deaminase is required for derepression by two of the effectors for multivalent repression, but not by the third. A model is presented which proposes that a regulatory species of leu tRNA(leu) is the key intermediate for repression and that threonine deaminase is a positive element, regulating the available pool of charged leu tRNA by binding it.

Involvement of threonine deaminase in multivalent repression of the isoleucine-valine pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A strain (MAR33) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae containing a threonine deaminase [L-threonine hydrolyase (deaminating) EC 4.2.1.16] with decreased feedback sensitivity has been shown to have a specific activity of acetohydroxy acid synthetase higher than that of the parent strain (MD11) when both are grown on minimal medium. When strain MAR33 is grown on minimal medium supplemented only with isoleucine, the specific activity of the synthetase is reduced to that found in the parent strain. Another strain, D106-1A, contains a nonsense mutation in the middle of the gene for threonine deaminase. When this strain is grown on minimal medium containing appropriate supplements (which include a nonrepressing concentration of isoleucine), or on minimal medium supplemented with isoleucylglycine (which acts as a limiting source of isoleucine), acetohydroxy acid synthetase remains repressed. Leucine limitation causes partial derepression. With the reversion of the nonsense mutation, either intragenically or via a suppressor for the mutation, partial derepression of the synthetase returns. When D106-1A is diploidized with either M15, a mutant lacking the synthetase, or MD9, a strain containing the enzyme, normal, partially derepressed, values for this enzyme are found. This indicates that threonine deaminase is necessary for derepression, and that it possibly acts as an inducer.