Pyrimidine biosynthesis in Pseudomonas veronii and its regulation by pyrimidines

Pyrimidine biosynthesis in the nutritionally versatile bacterium Pseudomonas veronii ATCC 700474 appeared to be controlled by pyrimidines. When wild type cells were grown on glucose in the presence of uracil, four enzyme activities were depressed while all five enzyme activities increased in succinate-grown cells supplemented with uracil. Independent of carbon source, orotic acid-grown cells elevated aspartate transcarbamoylase, dihydroorotase, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase or OMP decarboxylase activity. Pyrimidine limitation of glucose-grown pyrimidine auxotrophic cells lacking OMP decarboxylase activity resulted in at least a doubling of the enzyme activities relative to their activities in uracil-grown cells. Less derepression of the enzyme activities was observed after pyrimidine limitation of succinate-grown mutant cells possibly due to catabolite repression. Aspartate transcarbamoylase activity in Ps. veronii was regulated at the level of enzyme activity since the enzyme was strongly inhibited by pyrophosphate, UDP, UTP, ADP, ATP and GTP. Overall, the regulation of pyrimidine biosynthesis in Ps. veronii could be used to differentiate it from other taxonomically related species of Pseudomonas.     

Control of the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway in Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes

The five de novo enzyme activities unique to the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway were found to be present in Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes ATCC 17440. A mutant strain with 31-fold reduced orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (encoded by pyrE) activity was isolated that exhibited a pyrimidine requirement for uracil or cytosine. Uptake of the nucleosides uridine or cytidine by wild-type or mutant cells was not detectable; explaining the inability of the mutant strain to utilize either nucleoside to satisfy its pyrimidine requirement. When the wildtype strain was grown in the presence of uracil, the activities of the five de novo enzymes were depressed. Pyrimidine limitation of the mutant strain led to the increase in aspartate transcarbamoylase and dihydroorotate dehydrogenase activities by more than 3-fold, and dihydroorotase and orotidine 5-monophosphate decarboxylase activities about 1.5-fold, as compared to growth with excess uracil. It appeared that the syntheses of the de novo enzymes were regulated by pyrimidines. In vitro regulation of aspartate transcarbamoylase activity in P. pseudoalcaligenes ATCC 17440 was investigated using saturating substrate concentrations; transcarbamoylase activity was inhibited by P_i, PP_i, uridine ribonucleotides, ADP, ATP, GDP, GTP, CDP, and CTP.     

Pyrimidine Salvage Pathways In Toxoplasma Gondii

ABSTRACT. Pyrimidine salvage enzyme activities in cell-free extracts of Toxoplasma gondii were assayed in order to determine which of these enzyme activities are present in these parasites. Enzyme activities that were detected included phosphoribosyltransferase activity towards uracil (but not cytosine or thymine), nucleoside phosphorylase activity towards uridine, deoxyuridine and thymidine (but not cytidine or deoxycytidine), deaminase activity towards cytidine and deoxycytidine (but not cytosine, cytidine 5'-monophosphate or deoxycytidine 5'-monophosphate), and nucleoside 5'-monophosphate phosphohydrolase activity towards all nucleotides tested. No nucleoside kinase or phosphotransferase activity was detected, indicating that T. gondii lack the ability to directly phosphorylate nucleosides. Toxoplasma gondii appear to have a single non-specific uridine phosphorylase enzyme which can catalyze the reversible phosphorolysis of uridine, deoxyuridine and thymidine, and a single cytidine deaminase activity which can deaminate both cytidine and deoxycytidine. These results indicate that pyrimidine salvage in T. gondii probably occurs via the following reactions: cytidine and deoxycytidine are deaminated by cytidine deaminase to uridine and deoxyuridine, respectively; uridine and deoxyuridine are cleaved to uracil by uridine phosphorylase; and uracil is metabolized to uridine 5'-monophosphate by uracil phosphoribosyltransferase. Thus, uridine 5'-monophosphate is the end-product of both de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis and pyrimidine salvage in T. gondii.     

Enzymes of Pyrimidine Metabolism in Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides

The major pathways of ribonucleotide biosynthesis in Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides have been proposed from studies on its use of radioactive purines and pyrimidines. To interpret more fully the observed pattern of pyrimidine usage, cell extracts of this organism have been assayed for several enzymes associated with the salvage synthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides. M. mycoides possessed uracil phosphoribosyltransferase, uridine phosphorylase, uridine (cytidine) kinase, uridine 5'-monophosphate kinase, and cytidine 5'-triphosphate synthetase. No activity for phosphorolysis of cytidine was detected, and no in vitro conditions were found to give measurable deamination of cytidine. Of the two potential pathways for incorporation of uridine, our data suggest that this precursor would largely undergo initial phosphorolysis to uracil and ribose-1-phosphate. Conversely, cytidine is phosphorylated directly to cytidine 5'-monophosphate in its major utilization, although conversion of cytidine to uracil, uridine, and uridine nucleotide has been observed in vivo, at least when uracil is provided in the growth medium. Measurements of intracellular nucleotide contents and their changes on additions of pyrimidine precursors have allowed suggestions as to the operation of regulatory mechanisms on pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis in M. mycoides in vivo. With uracil alone or uracil plus uridine as precursors of pyrimidine ribonucleotides, the regulation of uracil phosphoribosyltransferase and cytidine 5'-triphosphate synthetase is probably most important in determining the rate of pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis. When cytidine supplements uracil in the growth medium, control of cytidine kinase activity would also be important in this regard.     

Fatty acid oxidation and the beta-oxidation complex in Mycobacterium leprae and two axenically cultivable mycobacteria that are pathogens

Intact, non-growing Mycobacterium leprae, M. avium and M. microti oxidized a wide range of 1-14C-labelled fatty acids (C8 to C24) to 14CO2. Laurate (C12) was oxidized most rapidly, and its oxidation by M. leprae was inhibited by the antileprosy agents Dapsone, clofazamine and rifampicin. Key enzymes of beta-oxidation were detected in extracts from all three mycobacteria. All these activities (both in intact mycobacteria and the enzymes) were stimulated in M. avium grown in Dubos medium plus palmitate but activities in M. microti or M. avium grown either in Dubos medium with added liposomes or triolein, or in vivo were similar to those detected in the same strain grown in Dubos medium alone. M. avium could be grown in medium in which 95% of its fatty acyl elongase activity is acetyl-CoA dependent. In this medium growing M. avium organisms oxidized [1-14C]palmitate to 14CO2 but simultaneously elongated palmitate to C24 acids and even longer. Acetyl-CoA-dependent elongase activity is similar but clearly not identical to reversed beta-oxidation, but the exact point(s) of difference have not yet been identified.     

Biochemistry and metabolism of Giardia

Giardia lamblia, an aerotolerant anaerobe, respires in the presence of oxygen by a flavin, iron-sulfur protein-mediated electron transport system. Glucose appears to be the only sugar catabolized by the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas and hexose monophosphate pathways, and energy is produced by substrate level phosphorylation. Substrates are incompletely oxidized to CO2, ethanol and acetate by nonsedimentable enzymes. The lack of incorporation of inosine, hypoxanthine, xanthine, formate or glycine into nucleotides indicates an absence of de novo purine synthesis. Only adenine, adenosine, guanine and guanosine are salvaged, and no interconversion of these purines was detected. Salvage of these purines and their nucleosides is accomplished by adenine phosphoribosyltransferase, adenosine hydrolase, guanosine phosphoribosyltransferase and guanine hydrolase. The absence of de novo pyrimidine synthesis was confirmed by the lack of incorporation of bicarbonate, orotate and aspartate into nucleotides, and by the lack of detectable levels of the enzymes of de novo pyrimidine synthesis. Salvage appears to be accomplished by the action of uracil phosphoribosyltransferase, uridine hydrolase, uridine phosphotransferase, cytidine deaminase, cytidine hydrolase, cytosine phosphoribosyltransferase and thymidine phosphotransferase. Nucleotides of uracil may be converted to nucleotides of cytosine by cytidine triphosphate synthetase, but thymidylate synthetase and dihydrofolate reductase activities were not detected. Uptake of pyrmidine nucleosides, and perhaps pyrimidines, appears to be accomplished by carrier-mediated transport, and the common site for uptake of uridine and cytidine is distinct from the site for thymidine. Thymine does not appear to be incorporated into nucleotide pools. Giardia trophozoites appear to rely on preformed lipids rather than synthesizing them de novo.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Metabolism of pyrimidine bases and nucleosides in Neisseria meningitidis.

In Neisseria meningitidis, uridine, deoxyuridine, cytosine, cytidine, or deoxycytidine could not be used by uracil-requiring mutants as pyrimidine sources. Consistent with these findings, only 5-fluorouracil of the different fluoropyrimidine bases and nucleosides showed any inhibitory effect on the growth of four prototrophic strains of N. meningitidis. Likewise, only radioactive uracil was readily incorporated into nucleic acids, whereas uptake of radioactive uridine, cytosine, or cytidine could not be demonstrated. Uracil was converted to uridine 5'-monophosphate by uracil phosphoribosyltransferase, whereas enzyme activities for conversion of cytosine or any of the nucleosides were not detectable in meningococcal extracts.     

De novo synthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides by Helicobacter pylori

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 ³¹P 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.     

Pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway of Pseudomonas fluorescens

Pyrimidine biosynthesis in Pseudomonas fluorescens strain A126 was investigated. In this study, de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway mutant strains were isolated using both conventional mutagenesis and transposon mutagenesis. The resulting mutant strains were deficient for either aspartate transcarbamoylase, dihydroorotase or orotate phosphoribosyltransferase activity. Uracil, uridine or cytosine could support the growth of every mutant strain selected. In addition, the aspartate transcarbamoylase mutant strains could utilize orotic acid to sustain their growth while the orotidine-5'-monophosphate decarboxylase mutant strains grew slowly upon uridine 5'-monophosphate. The wild-type strain and the mutant strains were used to study possible regulation of de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis in P. fluorescens. Dihydroorotase specific activity more than doubled after the wild-type cells were grown in orotic acid relative to unsupplemented minimal-medium-grown cells. Starving the mutant strains of pyrimidines also influenced the levels of several de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway enzyme activities.     

Pyrimidine salvage pathways in adult Schistosoma mansoni

Adult Schistosoma mansoni can utilize radiolabelled cytidine, uridine, uracil, orotate, deoxycytidine and thymidine for the synthesis of its nucleic acids. In this respect, cytidine is the most efficiently utilized pyrimidine precursor. Cytosine, thymine and orotidine are transported into the parasites but not metabolized. High performance liquid chromatography analysis of the nucleobase, nucleoside and nucleotide pools from in vivo metabolic studies and assays of enzyme activities in cell-free extracts indicate the presence of nucleoside and nucleotide kinases which phosphorylate the various nucleosides to their respective nucleoside mono-, di- and triphosphates. Uridine, thymidine and deoxyuridine can also be cleaved to their respective nucleobases by uridine phosphorylase. Uracil can be converted directly to UMP by orotate phosphoribosyltransferase or by the sequential actions of uridine phosphorylase and uridine kinase. Nucleoside 5'-monophosphates were dephosphorylated by active phosphohydrolases. All enzymes tested were found in the cytosol fraction with the exception of the phosphohydrolases which were associated mainly with the particulate fraction. No deamination of cytosine, cytidine, deoxycytidine, CMP or dCMP was detected either in vivo or in vitro. The active metabolism of cytidine and absence of deamination and phosphorolysis of cytidine derivatives in schistosomes raise the possibility of using cytidine analogues for the selective treatment of schistosomiasis.     

Precursors of pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis for gravid Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea).

Gravid Angiostrongylus cantonensis can utilize radiolabelled bicarbonate, orotate, uracil, uridine and cytidine but not cytosine, thymine and thymidine for the synthesis of RNA and DNA. In cell-free extracts of the worm, a phosphoribosyltransferase was shown to convert orotate to OMP and uracil to UMP. A similar reaction was not observed with cytosine and thymine. Uridine was readily phosphorylated by a kinase but a similar reaction for thymidine and deoxyuridine was not found. Cytidine could be phosphorylated by a kinase or be deaminated by a deaminase to uridine. No deaminase for cytosine was detected. There was also no phosphotransferase activity for pyrimidine nucleosides in the cytosolic or membrane fractions. Pyrimidine nucleosides were, in general, converted to the bases by a phosphorylase reaction but only uracil and thymine could form nucleosides in the reverse reaction. The activity of thymidylate synthetase was also measured. These results indicate that the nematode synthesizes pyrimidine nucleotides by de novo synthesis and by utilization of uridine and uracil and that cytosine and thymine nucleotides are formed mainly through UMP. The thymidylate synthetase reaction appears to be vital for the growth of the parasite.     

Enzymes for purine synthesis and scavenging in pathogenic mycobacteria and their distribution in Mycobacterium leprae

Three enzymes catalysing the synthesis of four intermediates (phosphoribosylglycinamide, phosphoribosylaminoimidazole-succinocarboxamide, phosphoribosylaminoimidazole-carboxamide and AMP) in the purine biosynthetic pathway were detected in extracts of Mycobacterium microti and M. avium, even when the organisms had been grown in mice. However only one of the three enzymes, adenylosuccinate AMP-lyase (catalysing the synthesis of the last two of the four intermediates listed above) was detected in M. leprae. Phosphoribosyltransferases, which convert adenine, guanine and hypoxanthine to the corresponding nucleoside monophosphates, and adenosine kinase were the major enzymes for purine scavenging in all mycobacteria studied. In contrast to enzymes in the synthetic pathway, evidence for metabolic regulation of the purine-scavenging enzymes was obtained. In particular, 20-80-fold differences in the activities of guanine phosphoribosyltransferase and adenosine kinase were observed when M. microti was grown in media with or without purines, or in mice. In M. leprae, activities of all phosphoribosyltransferases were low in comparison with activities in M. microti and M. avium (specific activity less than 2% when comparisons were made between extracts of host-grown mycobacteria). However, activity of adenosine kinase was higher in host-grown M. leprae than in host-grown M. microti or M. avium.     

Regulation of the Pyrimidine Biosynthetic Pathway in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas mucidolens</Emphasis>

Control of pyrimidine biosynthesis was examined in Pseudomonas mucidolens ATCC 4685 and the five de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic enzyme activities unique to this pathway were influenced by pyrimidine supplementation in cells grown on glucose or succinate as a carbon source. When uracil was supplemented to glucose-grown ATCC 4685 cells, activities of four de novo enzymes were depressed which indicated possible repression of enzyme synthesis. To learn whether the pathway was repressible, pyrimidine limitation experiments were conducted using an orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (pyrE) mutant strain identified in this study. Compared to excess uracil growth conditions for the glucose-grown mutant strain cells, pyrimidine limitation of this strain caused aspartate transcarbamoylase, dihydroorotase and dihydroorotate dehydrogenase activities to increase by more than 3-fold while OMP decarboxylase activity increased by 2.7-fold. The syntheses of the de novo enzymes appeared to be regulated by pyrimidines. At the level of enzyme activity, aspartate transcarbamoylase activity in P. mucidolens ATCC 4685 was subject to inhibition at saturating substrate concentrations. Transcarbamoylase activity was strongly inhibited by UTP, ADP, ATP, GTP and pyrophosphate.     

Enzymes for biosynthesis de novo and elongation of fatty acids in mycobacteria grown in host cells: is Mycobacterium leprae competent in fatty acid biosynthesis?

Fatty acid synthetase activity in extracts of Mycobacterium leprae was equivalent to 1.7 pmol malonyl-CoA incorporated into fatty acid min-1 (mg protein)-1. This activity--if representative of living M. leprae organisms--is insufficient to enable them to synthesize their lipid requirements rapidly enough to support growth. The major activity for scavenging fatty acids in extracts of Mycobacterium microti and Mycobacterium avium, as well as in extracts of M. leprae, was acetyl-CoA-dependent fatty acyl-CoA 'elongase'. This activity was about four times higher in M. avium and M. microti grown in a medium which contained lipids, or when grown in mice, than in medium without added lipids. In contrast, the de novo fatty acid synthetase activity was repressed in M. avium and M. microti when grown in medium that contained lipids, or when grown in mice. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that mycobacteria grown in vivo preferentially scavenge lipids from the host cells, and suggest that a source of lipid should be included in media for attempted axenic isolation of M. leprae.     

Pyrimidine Biosynthesis Is Not an Essential Function for Trypanosoma brucei Bloodstream Forms

Background

African trypanosomes are capable of both pyrimidine biosynthesis and salvage of preformed pyrimidines from the host, but it is unknown whether either process is essential to the parasite.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Pyrimidine requirements for growth were investigated using strictly pyrimidine-free media, with or without single added pyrimidine sources. Growth rates of wild-type bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei brucei were unchanged in pyrimidine-free medium. The essentiality of the de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway was studied by knocking out the PYR6-5 locus that produces a fusion product of orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRT) and Orotidine Monophosphate Decarboxylase (OMPDCase). The pyrimidine auxotroph was dependent on a suitable extracellular pyrimidine source. Pyrimidine starvation was rapidly lethal and non-reversible, causing incomplete DNA content in new cells. The phenotype could be rescued by addition of uracil; supplementation with uridine, 2′deoxyuridine, and cytidine allowed a diminished growth rate and density. PYR6-5⁻/⁻ trypanosomes were more sensitive to pyrimidine antimetabolites and displayed increased uracil transport rates and uridine phosphorylase activity. Pyrimidine auxotrophs were able to infect mice although the infection developed much more slowly than infection with the parental, prototrophic trypanosome line.

Conclusions/Significance

Pyrimidine salvage was not an essential function for bloodstream T. b. brucei. However, trypanosomes lacking de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis are completely dependent on an extracellular pyrimidine source, strongly preferring uracil, and display reduced infectivity. As T. brucei are able to salvage sufficient pyrimidines from the host environment, the pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway is not a viable drug target, although any interruption of pyrimidine supply was lethal.     

Control of pyrimidine nucleotide formation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">fulva</Emphasis>

Control of pyrimidine formation was examined in Pseudomonas fulva ATCC 31418. Pyrimidine supplementation lowered pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway enzyme activities in cells grown on glucose or succinate as a carbon source indicating possible repression of enzyme synthesis. Pyrimidine limitation experiments were conducted using an orotidine 5′-monophosphate decarboxylase mutant strain isolated in this study. Compared to uracil-supplemented, glucose-grown mutant cells, pyrimidine limitation of this strain caused aspartate transcarbamoylase, dihydroorotase, dihydroorotate dehydrogenase and orotate phosphoribosyltransferase activities to increase about 6-, 13-, 3-, 15-fold, respectively, which confirmed regulation of enzyme synthesis by pyrimidines. At the level of enzyme activity, transcarbamoylase activity in Ps. fulva was strongly inhibited by pyrophosphate, CTP, GTP and GDP under saturating substrate concentrations.     

Growth Inhibition by Purine Derivatives and Its Reversal by Pyrimidine Derivatives in a Mutant of Escherichia coli K12

An adenosine-sensitive mutant was isolated from Escherichia coli K12 derivative strain C600. This mutant (designated as PS100) grew slower than parental strain C600in a minimal medium, and its growth was completely inhibited by addition of all kinds of purine bases, nucleosides and nucleotides tested. On the other hand, this growth inhibitory effect of purine derivatives was reversed by co-addition of uridine to the medium. Other pyrimidine derivatives such as uracil, UMP,cytosine, cytidine, CMP and thymidine were also effective for this reversal. The mutant strain, PS100, showed a lower level (7%) of activity for orotate phosphoribosyltransferase than strain C600 did, and accumulated orotic acid in the growth medium. Lysogenization of strain PS100 with λ transducing phage containing the gene for orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (pyrE) resulted in restoration of the activity for orotate phosphoribosyltransferase and removal of growth inhibition by purine derivatives.     

Biochemistry and Metabolism of Giardia

Giardia lamblia, an aerotolerant anaerobe, respires in the presence of oxygen by a flavin, iron-sulfur protein-mediated electron transport system. Glucose appears to be the only sugar catabolized by the Embden-Meyerhof-Pamas and hexose monophosphate pathways, and energy is produced by substrate level phosphorylation. Substrates are incompletely oxidized to CO₂, ethanol and acetate by nonsedimentable enzymes. The lack of incorporation of inosine, hypoxanthine, xanthine, formate or glycine into nucleotides indicates an absence of de novo purine synthesis. Only adenine, adenosine, guanine and guanosine are salvaged, and no interconversion of these purines was detected. Salvage of these purines and their nucleosides is accomplished by adenine phosphoribosyltransferase, adenosine hydrolase, guanosine phosphonbosyltransferase and guanine hydrolase. The absence of de novo pyrimidine synthesis was confirmed by the lack of incorporation of bicarbonate, orotate and aspartate into nucleotides, and by the lack of detectable levels of the enzymes of de novo pyrimidine synthesis. Salvage appears to be accomplished by the action of uracil phosphoribosyltransferase, uridine hydrolase, uridine phosphotransferase, cytidine deaminase, cytidine hydrolase, cytosine phosphoribosyltransferase and thymidine phosphotransferase. Nucleotides of uracil may be converted to nucleotides of cytosine by cytidine triphosphate synthetase, but thymidylate synthetase and dihydrofolate reductase activities were not detected. Uptake of pyrmidine nucleosides, and perhaps pyrimidines, appears to be accomplished by carrier-mediated transport, and the common site for uptake of uridine and cytidine is distinct from the site for thymidine. Thymine does not appear to be incorporated into nucleotide pools. Giardia trophozoites appear to rely on preformed lipids rather than synthesizing them de novo. Major lipids include phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, sphingomyelin, sterol (probably cholesterol) and mono-, di- and triacylglycer-ides. The lipid composition of the cysts of G. lamblia isolated from gerbils and G. muris isolated from mice are similar to those obtained from the trophozoites of G. lamblia grown in vitro. The activities of several hydrolases of G. lamblia have been shown to be confined to a single lysosome-like particle population with an equilibrium density of approximately 1.15 in sucrose. Contrary to the trophozoites of Entamoeba and the trichomonads, Giardia trophozoites appear to lack most carbohydrate splitting hydrolases. Calmodulin has been reported in G. lamblia trophozoites, and it appears to have properties similar to the calmodulin isolated from other eucaryotic cells.     

Regulation of pyrimidine synthesis in Pseudomonas resinovorans

AIMS: To investigate the regulation of de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis in the bacterium Pseudomonas resinovorans ATCC 14235. METHODS AND RESULTS: The pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway enzymes were measured in cell extracts from P. resinovorans ATCC 14235 and from an auxotroph lacking orotate phosphoribosyltransferase activity. Pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway enzyme activities in ATCC 14235 were affected by the addition of pyrimidine bases to the culture medium. The de novo enzyme activities of the phosphoribosyltransferase mutant strain increased after pyrimidine starvation indicating possible repression of the pathway by a pyrimidine-related compound. Aspartate transcarbamoylase activity in ATCC 14235 was inhibited in vitro by ATP, UTP and pyrophosphate. CONCLUSIONS: Pyrimidine biosynthesis in P. resinovorans was regulated at the level of enzyme synthesis and at the level of activity for aspartate transcarbamoylase. Its regulation of enzyme synthesis seemed to be similar to what has been observed in the taxonomically related species Pseudomonas oleovorans. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study found that pyrimidine biosynthesis is regulated in P. resinovorans. This could prove helpful to future studies investigating polyhydroxyalkanoate production by the bacterium.