Activities of glycolytic enzymes in rapidly proliferating and differentiated C6 glioma cells

Comparisons of glycolytic enzymes between rapidly proliferating and Bt2 cAMP-induced differentiated C6 glioma cells have been made. Rapidly proliferating cells had higher concentrations of glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate compared to morphologically differentiated cells. Under maximally activating conditions, the specific activity and Vmax of hexokinase and phosphofructokinase enzymes were reduced by approximately 3- and 28-fold, respectively, in differentiated cells, without any change in Km values. These results suggest that hexokinase and phosphofructokinase occupy special control positions and the rate of glycolysis is correlated with cellular proliferation of C6 glioma cells.     

Isotope inequilibrium of glucose metabolites in intact cells and particlefree supernatants of Ehrlich ascites tumor.

With an enzyme degradative technique, isotope inequilibrium of glucose metabolites was demonstrated in intact cells and particlefree supernatants of Ehrlich ascites tumor using 1-14C-glucose as tracer. Inequilibrium was found between glucose and glucose-6-phosphate, glucose and fructose-6-phosphate, glucose and 6-phosphogluconate, while glucose-6-phosphate were found to be in near-equilibrium within the incubation time investigated. Glucose and lactate were found to be in near equilibrium after 8 min in intact cells. Calculations based on the equilibrium levels found, showed that these inequilibria could not be explained by the effects of the pentose cycle.     

Glucose-induced accumulation of glucose-1,6-bisphosphate in pancreatic islets : its possible role in the regulation of glycolysis

A rise in the extracellular concentration of glucose from zero to 5.6 and 16.7 mM caused a graded increase in the glucose-1,6-bisphosphate content of rat pancreatic islets. Glucose-1,6-bisphosphate activated phosphofructokinase in islet homogenates, when the reaction velocity was measured at low concentrations of fructose-6-phosphate. It is postulated that glucose-1, 6-bisphosphate participates, together with fructose-2,6-bisphosphate, in the regulation of glycolysis in intact islet cells.     

Pathway of glucose fermentation in relation to the taxonomy of bifidobacteria

Cell-free extracts of 17 strains of Bifidobacterium bifidum (Lactobacillus bifidus) were examined for the presence of aldolase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase. All strains turned out to lack aldolase, an enzyme unique to glycolysis, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, characteristic of the hexosemonophosphate pathway. In all strains, fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase could be demonstrated. It can be concluded that bifidobacteria ferment glucose via a pathway which is different from those found in members of the genus Lactobacillus. The results strengthen the previous suggestions that classification of the bifidobacteria in the genus Lactobacillus is not justified.     

Exposure of cells to a cell number-counting factor decreases the activity of glucose-6-phosphatase to decrease intracellular glucose levels in Dictyostelium discoideum

The development of Dictyostelium discoideum is a model for tissue size regulation, as these cells form groups of approximately 2 x 10(4) cells. The group size is regulated in part by a negative feedback pathway mediated by a secreted multipolypeptide complex called counting factor (CF). CF signal transduction involves decreasing intracellular CF glucose levels. A component of CF, countin, has the bioactivity of the entire CF complex, and an 8-min exposure of cells to recombinant countin decreases intracellular glucose levels. To understand how CF regulates intracellular glucose, we examined the effect of CF on enzymes involved in glucose metabolism. Exposure of cells to CF has little effect on amylase or glycogen phosphorylase, enzymes involved in glucose production from glycogen. Glucokinase activity (the first specific step of glycolysis) is inhibited by high levels of CF but is not affected by an 8-min exposure to countin. The second enzyme specific for glycolysis, phosphofructokinase, is not regulated by CF. There are two corresponding enzymes in the gluconeogenesis pathway, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase and glucose-6-phosphatase. The first is not regulated by CF or countin, whereas glucose-6-phosphatase is regulated by both CF and an 8-min exposure to countin. The countin-induced changes in the Km and Vmax of glucose-6-phosphatase cause a decrease in glucose production that can account for the countin-induced decrease in intracellular glucose levels. It thus appears that part of the CF signal transduction pathway involves inhibiting the activity of glucose-6-phosphatase, decreasing intracellular glucose levels and affecting the levels of other metabolites, to regulate group size.     

Dietary and hormonal regulation of some enzyme activities associated with gluconeogenesis in rabbit liver.

1. Starvation increases the activity of cytosolic P-enolpyruvate carboxkinase in rabbit liver some 4-5 fold but does not alter the activities of mitochondrial P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase, fructose-1,6-diphosphatase or glucose-6-phosphatase.2. Alloxan-induced diabetes increases the activities of cytosolic P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase, fructose-1,6-diphosphatase and glucose-6-phosphatase approx. 6-, 2- and 2-fold, respectively. Again the activity of mitochondrial P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase is not altered. 3. Administration of mannoheptulose rapidly increases blood glucose levels and also causes a significant increase in cytosolic P-enolpyruvate carboyxkinase activity within 4 h. The activities of mitochondrial P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase, fructose-1,6-diphosphatase and glucose-6-phosphatase are not affected. 4. Administration of hydrocortisone also increases blood glucose levels and the activities of cytosolic P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase and glucose-6-phosphatase are significantly increased within 12h. Again, mitochondrial P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase and fructose-1,6-diphosphatase activities remain unaffected. 5. The observations that (A) the activity of cytosolic P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase responds to more situations conducive to gluconeogenesis than do the activities of mitochondrial P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase, fructose-1,6-diphosphatase and glucose-6-phosphatase, and (B) cytosolic P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase activity is rapidly adaptive under appropriate circumstances, suggests that this particular enzyme's activity plays an important role in the regulation of gluconeogenesis in rabbits.     

Oxidative Enzymes and Pathways of Hexose and Triose Metabolism in Chlorella

Cell-free preparations of Chlorella pyrenoidosa Chick, van Niel's strain, were assayed for oxidative enzymes, utilizing isotopic and spectrophotometric techniques. The enzyme activity of heterotrophic and autotrophic cells was compared. The study was divided into categories, one concerned with the spectrophotometric detection of enzymes involved in the initial reactions of glycolysis and the hexose monophosphate shunt, and the other with the direct oxidation of glucose as compared with that oxidized via glycolysis. The reduction of pyridine nucleotides in crude extracts was studied with glucose, glucose-6-phosphate, 6-phosphogluconate, and fructose-1-6-diphosphate as substrates. Enzymes detected in both heterotrophic and autotrophic cells were hexokinase, fructose-diphosphate-aldolase, NAD-linked 3-phosphoglyceraldchyde dehydrogenase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, and a NADP-linked 3-phosphoglyceraldchyde dehydrogenase. In addition to isotopic studies designed to make an appraisal of the hexose monophosphate shunt, a comparison of the rate of reduction of NADP by glucose-6-phosphate and 6-phosphogluconate in relation to the reduction of NAD by 3-phosphoglyceraldehyde was made in light- and dark-grown cells. The rate of reduction of NADP appeared to be lowered in the light-grown cells, suggesting, as did also the isotopic studies, that the hexose monophosphate shunt is less active in autotrophic metabolism than in heterotrophic metabolism.     

Do non-equilibrium reactions in the glucose-to-triose phosphate pathway exist in the liver?

The circadian changes in the contents of intermediates of the initial reactions of the glycolytic pathway in pigeon liver were studied. the concentrations of glucose, glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate, fructose-1,6-diphosphate and triose phosphates were found to change synchronously, being maximal at the dark time and minimal during the light daytime. The glycogen content in the liver decreased steadily between 12.00 and 09.00. The diurnal variations in the concentrations of metabolite pairs (glucose and glucose-6-phosphate, glucose-6-phosphate and fructose-6-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate and fructose-1.6-diphosphate, fructose-1.6-diphosphate and triose phosphates) appeared to correlate significantly. The results obtained suggest that in the liver at least there are no limiting i. e. physiologically non-equilibrium reactions in the carbohydrate metabolic pathway from glucose to triose phosphates.     

In vivo nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of immobilization effects on glucose metabolism of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Fermentation rates and intracellular compositions have been determined for alginate-entrapped Saccharomyces cerevisiae and for identical cells in suspension. Glucose uptake and ethanol and glycerol production are approximately two times faster in immobilized cells than in suspended cells. Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of fermenting immobilized and suspended cells shows differences in intermediate metabolite levels such as fructose-1,6 diphosphate, glucose-6-phosphate, and 3-phosphoglycerate and in internal pH. Carbon-13 NMR shows an increase in polysaccharide production. These data suggest that immobilization has accelerated the rate of glucose transport or of glucose phosphorylation. These effects of immobilization upon cell metabolism are observed in a very short period of time under conditions in which negligible DNA, RNA, or protein synthesis takes place.     

Molecular and functional anomalies in two new mutant glucose-phosphate-isomerase variants with enzyme deficiency and chronic hemolysis

Summary Two new deficient glucose-phosphate-isomerase (GPI) variants have been described in patients suffering from severe chronic hemolytic anemias. The patients' parents were consanguineous, such that the patients were true homozygotes for the mutated GPI genes. In both cases the main cause of the defect in enzyme activity was molecular instability of the mutated GPI molecules, their catalytic activity being nearly normal.GPI Paris was characterized by a slow electrophoretic migration and, above all, a drastically altered affinity for the substrates glucose-6-phosphate (decreased) and fructose-6-phosphate (increased). GPI Enfants malades exhibited a slightly reduced electrophoretic mobility, an abnormal curve of the activity in function of pH, and an abnormal ratio of maximal velocity in the backward direction (fructose-6-phosphate»glucose-6-phosphate) to that in the forward direction (glucose-6-phosphate»fructose-6-phosphate).No clear relation could be proved between the kinetic abnormalities of the mutant GPI variants on the one hand and the metabolic changes of the GPI-deficient red cells and the severity of hemolysis on the other.Finally we emphasized the possible role of the impairment of hexosemonophosphate pathway in the reduction of viability of the GPI-deficient red cells.     

Induction in primary culture of 'gluconeogenic' and 'glycolytic' hepatocytes resembling periportal and perivenous cells

Adult rat hepatocytes were kept in primary culture for 48 h under different hormonal conditions to induce an enzyme pattern which with respect to carbohydrate metabolism approximated that of periportal and perivenous hepatocytes in vivo. 1. Glucagon-treated cells compared with control cells possessed a lower activity of glucokinase, a 4.5-fold higher activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and unchanged levels of glucose-6-phosphatase, phosphofructokinase, fructose-bisphosphatase and pyruvate kinase; they resembled in a first approximation the periportal cell type and are called for simplicity 'periportal'. Inversely, insulin-treated cells compared with control cells contained a 2.2-fold higher activity of glucokinase, a slightly decreased activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, increased activities of phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase and unaltered levels of glucose-6-phosphatase and fructose-bisphosphatase; they resembled perivenous cells and are called simply 'perivenous'. Gluconeogenesis and glycolysis were studied under various substrate and hormone concentrations. 2. Physiological concentrations of glucose (5 mM) and lactate (2 mM) gave about 80% saturation of gluconeogenesis from lactate and less than 15% saturation of glycolysis at a simultaneous 40% inhibition of the glycolytic rate by lactate. 3. Comparison of the two cell types showed that under identical assay conditions (5 mM glucose, 2 mM lactate, 0.5 nM insulin, 0.1 muM dexamethasone) gluconeogenesis was 1.5-fold faster in the 'periportal' cells and glycolysis was 2.4-fold faster in the 'perivenous' cells. 4. Metabolic rates were under short-term hormonal control. Insulin increased glycolysis three fold in both cell types with a half-maximal effect at about 0.4 nM, but did not influence the gluconeogenic rate. Glucagon inhibited glycolysis by 70% with a half-maximal effect at about 0.1 nM. Gluconeogenesis was stimulated by glucagon (half-maximal dose: 0.5 nM) 1.8-fold only in 'periportal' cells containing high phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity, not in the 'perivenous' cells with a low level of this enzyme. 5. A comparison of the two cell types showed that with maximally stimulating hormone concentrations gluconeogenesis was threefold faster in 'periportal' cells and glycolysis was eightfold faster in 'perivenous' cells. The results support the view that periportal and perivenous hepatocytes in vivo catalyse gluconeogenesis and glycolysis at inverse rates.     

Glucose conversion by multiple pathways in brain extract: theoretical and experimental analysis

Experimental and model studies were performed to characterize the flux of glucose metabolism and the sharing of glucose-6-phosphate (Glu6P) by the upper parts of glycolytic and pentosephosphate pathways in the brain extract. A mathematical model based upon the kinetic equations of the individual enzymes was evaluated to fit the experimental data. Glucose is converted to glucose-6-phosphate by hexokinase that controls almost exclusively the glucose metabolism. Experiments showed that this crossroad-metabolite was shared between glycolysis and pentosephosphate pathway in the brain extract in a ratio of 1.5:1. This ratio was favorable to the pentosephosphate pathway by the addition of high excess of exogenous glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, standardly used for the activity assay of hexokinase, but still a significant part (17+/-3%) of the common intermediate was converted into the direction of glycolysis. Stimulation of glucose-6-phosphate formation via moderate (30-50%) increase of hexokinase activity by adding exogenous hexokinase or tubulin resulted in the slight increase of the relative flux into direction of glycolysis. The model correctly described all of these observations. However, when the activity of hexokinase was doubled with exogenous enzyme, significantly less glucose-6-phosphate was converted into direction of glycolysis than predicted. This discrepancy shows that the system did not behave in this case as an ideal one, which could be due to the formation of distinct pools for the intermediate.     

Galactose Expulsion during Lactose Metabolism in Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris FD1 Due to Dephosphorylation of Intracellular Galactose 6-Phosphate

In Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris FD1, galactose and lactose are both transported and phosphorylated by phosphotransferase systems. Lactose 6-phosphate (lactose-6P) is hydrolyzed intracellularly to galactose-6P and glucose. Glucose enters glycolysis as glucose-6P, whereas galactose-6P is metabolized via the tagatose-6P pathway and enters glycolysis at the tagatose diphosphate and fructose diphosphate pool. Galactose would therefore be a gluconeogenic sugar in L. lactis subsp. cremoris FD1, but since fructose 1,6-diphosphatase is not present in this strain, galactose cannot serve as an essential biomass precursor (glucose-6P or fructose-6P) but only as an energy (ATP) source. Analysis of the growth energetics shows that transition from N limitation to limitation by glucose-6P or fructose-6P gives rise to a very high growth-related ATP consumption (152 mmol of ATP per g of biomass) compared with the value in cultures which are not limited by glucose-6P or fructose-6P (15 to 50 mmol of ATP per g of biomass). During lactose metabolism, the galactose flux through the tagatose-6P pathway (r(max) = 1.2 h) is lower than the glucose flux through glycolysis (r(max) = 1.5 h) and intracellular galactose-6P is dephosphorylated; this is followed by expulsion of galactose. Expulsion of a metabolizable sugar has not been reported previously, and the specific rate of galactose expulsion is up to 0.61 g of galactose g of biomass h depending on the lactose flux and the metabolic state of the bacteria. Galactose excreted during batch fermentation on lactose is reabsorbed and metabolized when lactose is depleted from the medium. In vitro incubation of galactose-6P (50 mM) and permeabilized cells (8 g/liter) gives a supernatant containing free galactose (50 mM) but no P(i) (less than 0.5 mM). No organic compound except the liberated galactose is present in sufficient concentration to bind the phosphate. Phosphate is quantitatively recovered in the supernatant as P(i) by hydrolysis with alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1), whereas inorganic pyrophosphatase (EC 3.6.1.1) cannot hydrolyze the compound. The results indicate that the unknown phosphate-containing compound might be polyphosphate.     

The effect of potassium depletion on the initial kinetics of glycolysis in ascites tumor cells

Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells depleted of K⁺ and provided with 5.5 mM K⁺ in isosmotic 50 mM tris(hydroxymethyl)methylglycine buffer at pH 7.4 and 38 °C take up K⁺ from the medium at a rate of 6 μmoles/ml intracellular fluid per min. Depleted cells exposed to K⁺ for 2 min prior to glucose addition exhibit a higher initial rate of glycolysis, a lower glycose-6-P accumulation, and a higher fructose-1,6-P₂ accumulation than depleted cells incubated in a K⁺-free medium. Both the K⁺ transport and the effect of K⁺ on glycolysis are blocked by 2 mM oubain.Calculation of thein vitro velocities of glycolytic enzymes from the rates of accumulation of lactate and glycolytic intermediates shows that the presence of K⁺ accelerates the velocities of fructose-6-phosphate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase about 2-fold and the velocity of hexokinase about 1.5-fold during the first 15 s. In either the presence or absence of K⁺, the hexokinase velocity is highest immediately after glucose addition and declines sharply with time; this decline is greater than would be predicted by product inhibition by the accumulated glucose-6-P. The maximal stimulation of fructose-6-phosphate kinase attibutable to the increasing intarcellular K⁺ concentration is only 1.25-fold. These observations indicate that the initial acceleration in glycolysis is not simply mediated through a direct K⁺ activation of fructose-6-phosphate kinase.The calculated theoretical rate of ATP generation by glycolysis shows that glycolysis is an ATP-utilizing system for the first 5–10 s both in the presence and in the absence of K⁺. Hence, the initial stimulation of glycolysis by K⁺ is not a consequence of an increased rate of ATP hydrolysis associated with K⁺ transport, although this mechanism may be responsible for the stimulation of steady-state glycolysis.The initial rate of phosphate ester (hexose and triose phosphates) accumulation corresponds to be rate of ATP generation by the “tail-end” of glycolysis, or twice the rate of lactate accumulation, in either the absence or presence of K⁺, but both the rate and the maximal level of ester accumulated are higher in the presence of K⁺. This implies that the oxidatively generated pool of ATP which is diverted from endogenous reactions to hexokinase and fructose-6-phosphate kinase on the introduction of glucose is larger in the presence of K⁺.Valinomycin (0.27 μM) under certain conditions can produce effects on the glycolysis of non-depleted cells which superficially resemble the effects of K⁺ on depleted cells. However, unlike K⁺, valinomycin stimulates the initial rate of glycolytic ATP generation, and abolishes the initial correspondence between the ATP generation by the “tail-end” of glycolysis and phosphate ester accumulation. These observations are interpreted to mean that valinomycin introduces an ATPase activity effective on glycolytically generated ATP.Comparison of the theoretical ATP generation in the presence and absence of K⁺ indicates that approximately one ATP is hydrolyzed for each K⁺ transported.     

Effect of tolbutamide on fructose-6-phosphate,2-kinase and fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase in rat liver

The effects of tolbutamide on the activities of fructose-6-phosphate,2-kinase and fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase were examined using rat hepatocytes. Tolbutamide stimulated fructose-6-phosphate,2-kinase activity and inhibited fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase activity, resulting in an increase of fructose-2,6-bisphosphate level. Changes in the activities of the enzyme by tolbutamide were due to variation in the Km value, but not dependent on alteration of Vmax. Glucagon inhibition of fructose-2,6-bisphosphate formation resulting from an inactivation of fructose-6-phosphate,2-kinase and an activation of fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase was released by tolbutamide. Tolbutamide stimulation of fructose-2,6-bisphosphate formation through regulation of fructose-6-phosphate,2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase may produce enhancement of glycolysis and inhibition of gluconeogenesis in the liver.     

Adenosine triphosphate-linked control of Pseudomonas aeruginosa glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase

Extracts of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 7700) cells grown on glucose, gluconate, or glycerol had enzyme activities related to the Entner-Doudoroff pathway. These activities were present in no more than trace amounts when the bacteria were grown on succinate. Fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase could not be detected in extracts of the bacteria grown on any of the above carbon sources. Therefore, it appears that P. aeruginosa degrades glucose via an inducible Entner-Doudoroff pathway. The apparent absence of fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase in cells growing on succinate suggests that the bacteria can form hexose and pentose phosphates from succinate by an alternate route. d-Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, a branch-point enzyme of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, was purified 50-fold from glucose-grown cells. Its molecular weight, estimated by sucrose density gradient centrifugation, was found to be approximately 190,000. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by adenosine triphosphate, guanosine triphosphate, and deoxyguanosine triphosphate, which decreased the apparent binding of glucose-6-phosphate to the enzyme. It is suggested that adenine nucleotide-linked control of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase may regulate the overall catabolism of hexose phosphates and prevent their wasteful degradation under certain conditions requiring gluconeogenesis.     

Salt stress and glycolytic regulation in suspension-cultured cells of the mangrove tree, Bruguiera sexangula

Suspension-cultured cells derived from seedlings of Bruguiera sexangula are tolerant to NaCl. To examine the influence of long-term salt stress on glycolysis, we determined the effect of 100 m M NaCl on the activities of two key enzymes, phosphofructokinase (PFK, EC 2.7.1.11) and pyruvate kinase (PK, EC 2.7.1.40), and on the bypass enzymes, pyrophosphate: fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase (PFP, EC 2.7.1.90), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC, EC 4.1.1.49) and phosphoenolpyruvate phosphatase (PEPase, EC 3.1.3.60). From 10 days after NaCl treatment, increases were found in the activities of PFK, PK and PEPC. In contrast, there was little or no difference in the activities of PFP or PEPase. The short-term effect of salt stress was also investigated. NaCl (150 m M ) caused a 1.4-fold increase in respiratory O₂ uptake at 24 h after treatment. Alongside this respiratory rise, drastic changes in the levels of glycolytic metabolites were found: a decrease in the levels of glucose, glucose-6-phosphate and fructose-6-phosphate, and an increase in the levels of fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate and metabolites of the later steps of the glycolytic pathway. The crossover diagram of metabolites suggests that NaCl stimulates those steps catalysed by PFK and/or PFP. The in vitro activities of partially purified PFK and PFP were increased by the addition of 150 m M NaCl. The effect of salt on the kinetic properties of PFK and PFP was studied, and possible control mechanisms of glycolysis on salt stress are discussed.