Polyamine Synthesis in Mammalian Tissues

Spermine synthase, a propylamine transferase, which catalyses the biosynthesis of spermine from S ‐methyladenosylhomocysteamine and spermidine has been purified to an apparent homogeneity (about 6000‐fold) from bovine brain using spermine‐Sepharose affinity chromatography. The enzyme preparation was free from S ‐adenosylmethionine decarboxylase and spermidine synthase activities. The molecular Stokes radius of the enzyme was calculated to be 4.16 nm. The enzyme has an apparent molecular weight of approximately 88000, composing of two subunits of equal size. The enzyme showed a broad pH optimum between 7.0 and 8.0 and an acidic isoelectric point at pH 5.10. The apparent K m value for S ‐methyladenosylhomocysteamine was 0.6 μM and about 60 μM for spermidine. The enzyme showed strict specificity to spermidine as the propylamine acceptor. Both the reaction products, spermine and 5′‐methylthioadenosine inhibited the enzyme activity, methylthioadenosine being a powerful competitive inhibitor with respect to S ‐methyladenosyl‐homocysteamine ( K i value of about 0.3 μM). Putrescine also inhibited competitively with respect to spermidine ( K i value of about 1.7 mM). Spermine synthase had no requirements for metal or other cofactors.