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De novo synthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides by Helicobacter pylori
Author(s) -
Mendz G.L.,
Jimenez B.M.,
Hazell S.L.,
Gero A.M.,
O'Sullivan W.J.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1994.tb03036.x
Subject(s) - nucleotide , helicobacter pylori , pyrimidine , chemistry , biochemistry , biology , genetics , gene
The incorporation of pyrimidine nucleotide precursors into Helicobacter pylori and the activities of enzymes involved in their synthetic pathways were investigated by radioactive tracer analysis and 31 P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The bacterium was found to take up aspartate and bicarbonate and to incorporate carbon atoms from these precursors into its genomic DNA. Orotate, an intermediate of de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis, and uracil and uridine, precursors for pyrimidine pathways, were also incorporated by the micro‐organism. Radiolabelled substrates were used to assess the activities of aspartate transcarbamoylase, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase, orotidylate decarboxylase, CTP synthetase, uracil phosphoribosyltransferase, thymidine kinase and deoxycytidine kinase in bacterial lysates. The study provided evidence for the presence in H. pylori of an operational de novo pathway, and a less active salvage pathway for the biosynthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides.