Closed site complexes of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase from Giardia lamblia reveal a mechanism of ribosyl migration

The adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRTase) from Giardia lamblia was co-crystallized with 9-deazaadenine and sulfate or with 9-deazaadenine and Mg-phosphoribosylpyrophosphate. The complexes were solved and refined to 1.85 and 1.95 A resolution. Giardia APRTase is a symmetric homodimer with the monomers built around Rossman fold cores, an element common to all known purine phosphoribosyltransferases. The catalytic sites are capped with a small hood domain that is unique to the APRTases. These structures reveal several features relevant to the catalytic function of APRTase: 1) a non-proline cis peptide bond (Glu(61)-Ser(62)) is required to form the pyrophosphate binding site in the APRTase.9dA.MgPRPP complex but is a trans peptide bond in the absence of pyrophosphate group, as observed in the APRTase.9dA.SO4 complex; 2) a catalytic site loop is closed and fully ordered in both complexes, with Glu(100) from the catalytic loop acting as the acid/base for protonation/deprotonation of N-7 of the adenine ring; 3) the pyrophosphoryl charge is neutralized by a single Mg2+ ion and Arg(63), in contrast to the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferases, which use two Mg2+ ions; and 4) the nearest structural neighbors to APRTases are the orotate phosphoribosyltransferases, suggesting different paths of evolution for adenine relative to other purine PRTases. An overlap comparison of AMP and 9-deazaadenine plus Mg-PRPP at the catalytic sites of APRTases indicated that reaction coordinate motion involves a 2.1-A excursion of the ribosyl anomeric carbon, whereas the adenine ring and the 5-phosphoryl group remained fixed. G. lamblia APRTase therefore provides another example of nucleophilic displacement by electrophile migration.     

Structural analysis of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRTase) is a widely distributed enzyme, and its deficiency in humans causes the accumulation of 2,8-dihydroxyadenine. It is the sole catalyst for adenine recycling in most eukaryotes. The most commonly expressed APRTase has subunits of approximately 187 amino acids, but the only crystal structure is from Leishmania donovani, which expresses a long form of the enzyme with 237 residues. Saccharomyces cerevisiae APRTase was selected as a representative of the short APRTases, and the structure of the apo-enzyme and sulfate bound forms were solved to 1.5 and 1.75 A, respectively. Yeast APRTase is a dimeric molecule, and each subunit is composed of a central five-stranded beta-sheet surrounded by five alpha-helices, a structural theme found in all known purine phosphoribosyltransferases. The structures reveal several important features of APRTase function: (i) sulfate ions bound at the 5'-phosphate and pyrophosphate binding sites; (ii) a nonproline cis peptide bond (Glu67-Ser68) at the pyrophosphate binding site in both apo-enzyme and sulfate-bound forms; and (iii) a catalytic loop that is open and ordered in the apo-enzyme but open and disordered in the sulfate-bound form. Alignment of conserved amino acids in short-APRTases from 33 species reveals 13 invariant and 15 highly conserved residues present in hinges, catalytic site loops, and the catalytic pocket. Mutagenesis of conserved residues in the catalytic loop, subunit interface, and phosphoribosylpyrophosphate binding site indicates critical roles for the tip of the catalytic loop (Glu106) and a catalytic site residue Arg69, respectively. Mutation of one loop residue (Tyr103Phe) increases k(cat) by 4-fold, implicating altered dynamics for the catalytic site loop.     

A Simple and Rapid Method for the Separation and Characterization of Hypoxanthine-Guanine Phosphoribosyltransferase Isoenzymes

Purinephosphoribosyltransferases catalyze the conversion of purine bases to their nucleotides in the presence of 5-phosphoribosyl-l- pyrophosphate (PRPP) (1). This salvage pathway plays an important role in the regulation of de novo purine synthesis (2). In mammalian cells two distinct phosphoribosyltransferases were demonstrated: the enzyme adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (AMP: pyrophosphate phosphoribosyl- transferase; A-PRT; E.C. 2.4.2.7) and the enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (PIP: pyrophosphate phosphoribosyltranferase; HG-PRT; E.C. 2.4.2.8). There has been a great interest in this latter enzyme as the complete absence of this enzyme activity in patients with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (3) and a partial deficiency in some patients with gout (4) has been demonstrated.     

Point mutations in the guanine phosphoribosyltransferase from Giardia lamblia modulate pyrophosphate binding and enzyme catalysis.

Guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (GPRTase) from Giardia lamblia, an enzyme required for guanine salvage and necessary for the survival of this parasitic protozoan, has been kinetically characterized. Phosphoribosyltransfer proceeds through an ordered sequential mechanism common to many related purine phosphoribosyltransferases (PRTases) with alpha-D-5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) binding to the enzyme first and guanosine monophosphate (GMP) dissociating last. The enzyme is a highly unique purine PRTase, recognizing only guanine as its purine substrate (K(m) = 16.4 microM) but not hypoxanthine (K(m) > 200 microM) nor xanthine (no reaction). It also catalyzes both the forward (kcat = 76.7 s-1) and reverse (kcat = 5.8.s-1) reactions at significantly higher rates than all the other purine PRTases described to date. However, the relative catalytic efficiencies favor the forward reaction, which can be attributed to an unusually high K(m) for pyrophosphate (PPi) (323.9 microM) in the reverse reaction, comparable only with the high K(m) for PPi (165.5 microM) in Tritrichomonas foetus HGXPRTase-catalyzed reverse reaction. As the latter case was due to the substitution of threonine for a highly conserved lysine residue in the PPi-binding loop [Munagala et al. (1998) Biochemistry 37, 4045-4051], we identified a corresponding threonine residue in G. lamblia GPRTase at position 70 by sequence alignment, and then generated a T70K mutant of the enzyme. The mutant displays a 6.7-fold lower K(m) for PPi with a twofold increase in the K(m) for PRPP. Further attempts to improve PPi binding led to the construction of a T70K/A72G double mutant, which displays an even lower K(m) of 7.9 microM for PPi. However, mutations of the nearby Gly71 to Glu, Arg, or Ala completely inactivate the GPRTase, suggesting the requirement of flexibility in the putative PPi-binding loop for enzyme catalysis, which is apparently maintained by the glycine residue. We have thus tentatively identified the PPi-binding loop in G. lamblia GPRTase, and attributed the relatively higher catalytic efficiency in the forward reaction to the unusual loop structure for poor PPi binding in the reverse reaction.     

Kinetic mechanism of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase from Leishmania donovani

Adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT, EC 2.4.2.7) catalyzes the reversible phosphoribosylation of adenine from alpha-D-5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) to form AMP and PP(i). Three-dimensional structures of the dimeric APRT enzyme from Leishmania donovani (LdAPRT) bear many similarities to other members of the type 1 phosphoribosyltransferase family but do not reveal the structural basis for catalysis (Phillips, C. L., Ullman, B., Brennan, R. G., and Hill, C. P. (1999) EMBO J. 18, 3533-3545). To address this issue, a steady state and transient kinetic analysis of the enzyme was performed in order to determine the catalytic mechanism. Initial velocity and product inhibition studies indicated that LdAPRT follows an ordered sequential mechanism in which PRPP is the first substrate to bind and AMP is the last product to leave. This mechanistic model was substantiated by equilibrium isotope exchange and fluorescence binding studies, which provided dissociation constants for the LdAPRT-PRPP and LdAPRT-AMP binary complexes. Pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of the forward reaction revealed a burst in product formation indicating that phosphoribosyl transfer proceeds rapidly relative to some rate-limiting product release event. Transient fluorescence competition experiments enabled measurement of rates of binary complex dissociation that implicated AMP release as rate-limiting for the forward reaction. Kinetics of product ternary complex formation were evaluated using the fluorophore formycin AMP and established rate constants for pyrophosphate binding to the LdAPRT-formycin AMP complex. Taken together, these data enabled the complete formulation of an ordered bi-bi kinetic mechanism for LdAPRT in which all of the rate constants were either measured or calculated.     

Mechanism of 4-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)aminobenzene 5'-phosphate synthase, a key enzyme in the methanopterin biosynthetic pathway

The first committed step in methanopterin biosynthesis is catalyzed by 4-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)aminobenzene 5'-phosphate (RFA-P) synthase. Unlike all known phosphoribosyltransferases, beta-RFA-P synthase catalyzes the unique formation of a C-riboside instead of an N-riboside in the condensation of p-aminobenzoic acid (pABA) and 5-phospho-alpha-D-ribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) to produce 4-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)aminobenzene 5'-phosphate (beta-RFA-P), CO(2), and inorganic pyrophosphate (PP(i)). Here we report the successful cloning, active overexpression in Escherichia coli, and purification of this homodimeric enzyme containing two 36.2-kDa subunits from the methanogen Methanococcus jannaschii. Steady-state initial velocity and product inhibition kinetic studies indicate an ordered Bi-Ter mechanism involving binding of PRPP, then pABA, followed by release of the products CO(2), then beta-RFA-P, and finally PP. The Michaelis parameters are as follows: K(m)pABA, 0.15 mm; K(m)PRPP, 1.50 mm; V(max), 375 nmol/min/mg; k(cat), 0.23 s(-1). CO(2) showed uncompetitive inhibition, K(i) = 0.990 mm, under varied PRPP and saturated pABA, and a mixed type of inhibition, K(1) = 1.40 mm and K = 3.800 mm, under varied pABA and saturated PRPP. RFA-P showed uncompetitive inhibition, K(i) = 0.210 mm, under varied PRPP and saturated pABA, and again uncompetitive, K(i) = 0.300 mm, under saturated PRPP and varied pABA. PP(i) exhibits competitive inhibition, K(i) = 0.320 mm, under varied PRPP and saturated pABA, and a mixed type of inhibition, K(1) = 0.60 mm and K(2) = 1.900 mm, under saturated PRPP and varied pABA. Synthase lacks any chromogenic cofactor, and the presence of pyridoxal phosphate and the mechanistically related pyruvoyl cofactors has been strictly excluded.     

Tryptophan fluorescence monitors multiple conformational changes required for glutamine phosphoribosylpyrophosphate amidotransferase interdomain signaling and catalysis.

Single tryptophan residues were incorporated into each of three peptide segments that play key roles in the structural transition of ligand-free, inactive glutamine phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) amidotransferase to the active enzyme-substrate complex. Intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence and fluorescence quenching were used to monitor changes in a phosphoribosyltransferase (PRTase) "flexible loop", a "glutamine loop", and a C-terminal helix. Steady state fluorescence changes resulting from substrate binding were used to calculate binding constants and to detect the structural rearrangements that coordinate reactions at active sites for glutamine hydrolysis and PRTase catalysis. Pre-steady state kinetics of enzyme.PRPP and enzyme.PRPP.glutamine complex formation were determined from stopped-flow fluorescence measurements. The kinetics of the formation of the enzyme.PRPP complex were consistent with a model with two or more steps in which rapid equilibrium binding of PRPP is followed by a slow enzyme isomerization. This isomerization is ascribed to the closing of the PRTase flexible loop and is likely the rate-limiting step in the reaction of PRPP with NH(3). The pre-steady state kinetics for binding glutamine to the binary enzyme. PRPP complex could also be fit to a model involving rapid equilibrium binding of glutamine followed by an enzyme isomerization step. The changes monitored by fluorescence account for the interconversions between "end state" structures determined previously by X-ray crystallography and define an intermediate enzyme.PRPP conformer.     

Crystal structures of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase from Leishmania donovani.

The enzyme adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) functions to salvage adenine by converting it to adenosine-5-monophosphate (AMP). APRT deficiency in humans is a well characterized inborn error of metabolism, and APRT may contribute to the indispensable nutritional role of purine salvage in protozoan parasites, all of which lack de novo purine biosynthesis. We determined crystal structures for APRT from Leishmania donovani in complex with the substrate adenine, the product AMP, and sulfate and citrate ions that appear to mimic the binding of phosphate moieties. Overall, these structures are very similar to each other, although the adenine and AMP complexes show different patterns of hydrogen-bonding to the base, and the active site pocket opens slightly to accommodate the larger AMP ligand. Whereas AMP adopts a single conformation, adenine binds in two mutually exclusive orientations: one orientation providing adenine-specific hydrogen bonds and the other apparently positioning adenine for the enzymatic reaction. The core of APRT is similar to that of other phosphoribosyltransferases, although the adenine-binding domain is quite different. A C-terminal extension, unique to Leishmania APRTs, extends an extensive dimer interface by wrapping around the partner molecule. The active site involves residues from both subunits of the dimer, indicating that dimerization is essential for catalysis.     

Kinetic mechanism of uracil phosphoribosyltransferase from Escherichia coli and catalytic importance of the conserved proline in the PRPP binding site

Phosphoribosyltransferases catalyze the formation of nucleotides from a nitrogenous base and 5-phosphoribosyl-alpha-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP). These enzymes and the PRPP synthases resemble each other in a short homologous sequence of 13 amino acid residues which has been termed the PRPP binding site and which interacts with the ribose 5-phosphate moiety in structurally characterized complexes of PRPP and nucleotides. We show that each class of phosphoribosyltransferases has subtle deviations from the general consensus PRPP binding site and that all uracil phosphoribosyltransferases (UPRTases) have a proline residue at a position where other phosphoribosyltransferases and the PRPP synthases have aspartate. To investigate the role of this unusual proline (Pro 131 in the E. coli UPRTase) for enzyme activity, we changed the residue to an aspartate and purified the mutant P131D enzyme to compare its catalytic properties with the properties of the wild-type protein. We found that UPRTase of E. coli obeyed the kinetics of a sequential mechanism with the binding of PRPP preceding the binding of uracil. The basic kinetic constants were derived from initial velocity measurements, product inhibition, and ligand binding assays. The change of Pro 131 to Asp caused a 50-60-fold reduction of the catalytic rate (kcat) in both directions of the reaction and approximately a 100-fold increase in the KM for uracil. The KM for PRPP was strongly diminished by the mutation, but kcat/KM,PRPP and the dissociation constant (KD,PRPP) were nearly unaffected. We conclude that the proline in the PRPP binding site of UPRTase is of only little importance for binding of PRPP to the free enzyme, but is critical for binding of uracil to the enzyme-PRPP complex and for the catalytic rate.     

Inhibition of purine phosphoribosyltransferases from Ehrlich ascites-tumour cells by purine nucleotides

1. The purine bases adenine, hypoxanthine and guanine were rapidly incorporated into the nucleotide fraction of Ehrlich ascites-tumour cells in vivo. 2. The reaction of 5'-phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate with adenine phosphoribosyltransferase from ascites-tumour cells (K(m) 6.5-11.9mum) was competitively inhibited by AMP, ADP, ATP and GMP (K(i) 7.5, 21.9, 395 and 118mum respectively). Similarly the reactions of 5'-phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate with both hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase and guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (K(m) 18.4-31 and 37.6-44.2mum respectively) were competitively inhibited by IMP (K(i) 52 and 63.5mum) and by GMP (K(i) 36.5 and 5.9mum). 3. The nucleotides tested as inhibitors did not appreciably compete with the purine bases in the phosphoribosyltransferase reactions. 4. It was postulated that the purine phosphoribosyltransferases of Ehrlich ascites-tumour cells may be effectively separated from the adenine nucleotide pool of these cells.     

Structural complexes of human adenine phosphoribosyltransferase reveal novel features of the APRT catalytic mechanism

Adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) is an important enzyme component of the purine recycling pathway. Parasitic protozoa of the order Kinetoplastida are unable to synthesize purines de novo and use the salvage pathway for the synthesis of purine bases rendering this biosynthetic pathway an attractive target for antiparasitic drug design. The recombinant human adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (hAPRT) structure was resolved in the presence of AMP in the active site to 1.76 A resolution and with the substrates PRPP and adenine simultaneously bound to the catalytic site to 1.83 A resolution. An additional structure was solved containing one subunit of the dimer in the apo-form to 2.10 A resolution. Comparisons of these three hAPRT structures with other 'type I' PRTases revealed several important features of this class of enzymes. Our data indicate that the flexible loop structure adopts an open conformation before and after binding of both substrates adenine and PRPP. Comparative analyses presented here provide structural evidence to propose the role of Glu104 as the residue that abstracts the proton of adenine N9 atom before its nucleophilic attack on the PRPP anomeric carbon. This work leads to new insights to the understanding of the APRT catalytic mechanism.     

Role of the flexible loop of hypoxanthine-guanine-xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase from Tritrichomonas foetus in enzyme catalysis

The hypoxanthine-guanine-xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGXPRTase), a type I PRTase, from Tritrichomonas foetus, is a potential target for antitritrichomonal chemotherapy. Structural data on all the type I PRTases reveal a highly flexible, 11-14-amino acid loop, presumably covering the active site. With the exception of a highly conserved Ser-Tyr dipeptide, the other amino acids constituting the loop vary widely among different PRTases. The roles of the conserved Ser73 and Tyr74 residues in the loop and the dynamics of the loop in T. foetus HGXPRTase were investigated using site-directed mutants, stop-flow kinetics, chemical modification, and two-dimensional (1)H-(15)N heteronuclear NMR relaxation experiments. S73A, Y74F, and Y74E mutants of HGXPRTase exhibited a 5-7-fold increase in K(m) for guanine and a 3-5-fold increase in K(m) for PRPP compared to that of the wild type, reflecting the decreased affinity of binding for the two substrates. The k(cat)'s for these mutant-catalyzed reactions, however, do not change appreciably from that of the wild-type enzyme. Stopped-flow fluorescence with a Y74W mutant showed no apparent quenching by adding either PRPP or GMP alone. When both PRPP and guanine were added together, however, the fluorescence was rapidly quenched, followed by a slow recovery as the enzyme-catalyzed reaction progressed, suggesting movement of the loop during catalysis. In the presence of 9-deazaguanine and PRPP, the rapidly quenched fluorescence was not recovered, suggesting a closed loop form. The accessibility of Trp74 in the flexible loop of the mutant enzyme was also analyzed using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS), which reacts specifically with the tryptophan residue. NBS reacted with the only tryptophan in the Y74W mutant enzyme and rendered the enzyme inactive. GMP or PRPP alone failed to protect the enzyme from NBS inactivation. However, the presence of both 9-deazaguanine and PPRP protected the enzyme, allowing it to retain up to 70% of its activity. An S75H mutant, labeled with [(15)N]histidine, was used in the (1)H-(15)N NMR study. Spectra obtained in the presence of enzyme substrates indicated an apparent stabilization of the loop only in the presence of 9-deazaguanine and PRPP. These experimental results thus clearly demonstrated stabilization of the flexible loop upon binding of both PRPP and guanine and suggested its involvement in enzyme catalysis.     

Antitumor and Antiviral Properties of Penicillic Acid

The effects of adenine and (or) guanosine concentration on the accumulation of inosine, xanthosine, adenosine and succino-adenosine were studied with various purine auxotrophs of Bacillus subtilis K strain. Genetical derepression of the common pathway enzymes resulted in increase in the accumulation of inosine, xanthosine and adenosine. Co-operative repression system of a common pathway enzyme, succino-AMP lyase with respect to adenine and guanosine, was confirmed under the condition of the accumulation test. From these and the relating other studies it was concluded that the synthesis of AMP was regulated mainly by the inhibition of PRPP amidotransferase by AMP and secondly by the repression of the common pathway enzymes by adenine and guanosine, that the synthesis of GMP was regulated mainly by the inhibition and repression of IMP dehydrogenase by guanine derivatives and that GMP was synthesized in preference to AMP at the branch point, IMP.     

Interdomain signaling in glutamine phosphoribosylpyrophosphate amidotransferase

The glutamine phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) amidotransferase-catalyzed synthesis of phosphoribosylamine from PRPP and glutamine is the sum of two half-reactions at separated catalytic sites in different domains. Binding of PRPP to a C-terminal phosphoribosyltransferase domain is required to activate the reaction at the N-terminal glutaminase domain. Interdomain signaling was monitored by intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence and by measurements of glutamine binding and glutamine site catalysis. Enzymes were engineered to contain a single tryptophan fluorescence reporter in key positions in the glutaminase domain. Trp(83) in the glutamine loop (residues 73-84) and Trp(482) in the C-terminal helix (residues 471-492) reported fluorescence changes in the glutaminase domain upon binding of PRPP and glutamine. The fluorescence changes were perturbed by Ile(335) and Tyr(74) mutations that disrupt interdomain signaling. Fluoresence titrations of PRPP and glutamine binding indicated that signaling defects increased the K(d) for glutamine but had little or no effect on PRPP binding. It was concluded that the contact between Ile(335) in the phosphoribosyltransferase domain and Tyr(74) in the glutamine site is a primary molecular interaction for interdomain signaling. Analysis of enzymes with mutations in the glutaminase domain C-terminal helix and a 404-420 peptide point to additional signaling interactions that activate the glutamine site when PRPP binds.     

Quinolinate phosphoribosyltransferase: kinetic mechanism for a type II PRTase

Quinolinate phosphoribosyltransferase (QAPRTase, EC 2.4.2.19) catalyzes the formation of nicotinate mononucleotide, carbon dioxide, and pyrophosphate from 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) and quinolinic acid (QA, pyridine 2,3-dicarboxylic acid). The enzyme is the only type II PRTase whose X-ray structure is known. Here we determined the kinetic mechanism of the enzyme from Salmonella typhimurium. Equilibrium binding studies show that PRPP and QA each form binary complexes with the enzyme, with K(D) values (53 and 21 microM, respectively) similar to their K(M) values (30 and 25 microM, respectively). Although neither PP(i) nor NAMN products bound well to the enzyme, 130-fold tighter binding of PP(i) (K(D) = 75 microM) and NAMN (K(D) = 6 microM) in a ternary complex was observed. Phthalic acid (K(D) = 21 microM) and PRPP each caused a 2.5-fold tightening of the other's binding. Isotope trapping experiments indicated that the E.QA complex is catalytically competent, whereas the E.PRPP complex could not be trapped. Pre-steady-state kinetics gave a linear rate of NAMN formation, indicating that on-enzyme phosphoribosyl transfer chemistry is rate-determining. Isotope trapping from the steady state revealed that nearly all QA and about one-third of PRPP in ternary enzyme.QA.PRPP complexes could be trapped as the product. Substrate inhibition by PRPP was observed. These data demonstrate a predominantly ordered kinetic mechanism in which productive binding of quinolinic acid precedes that of PRPP. An E.PRPP complex exists as a nonproductive side branch.     

Further studies on the purine phosphoribosyltransferase 'burst' velocity reaction.

In the assays used to determinate the adenine and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferases activities from Artemia cysts two phases of velocity are observed in the synthesis of AMP, IMP and GMP: one initial burst and a second, slower, steady-state velocity. Both reaction velocities are divalent cation-dependent and temperature-resistant, as they are detectable at temperatures from 0 to 100 degrees C. Butanol, frequently employed to interrupt the purine phosphoribosyltransferase reactions, does not inhibit the enzyme activities. The 'burst' phase is not detected when the reaction is ended by the addition of EDTA. These data support that the initial velocities of these enzymatic reactions may be due to the accumulation of products formed by the overall reaction, developed subsequent to the controlled reaction period, being the 'burst' a result from the relative resistance of these enzymes to the agents that are often used to stop the reaction, such as heat or butanol.     

In vivo effect of mutations at the PRPP binding site of the Bacillus subtilis purine repressor

The Bacillus subtilis PurR mediates adenine repression and guanosine induction of purA. PRPP inhibits binding of PurR to DNA in vitro. Mutations in the PRPP binding motif of PurR caused strong repression regardless of purine exclusions or additions, establishing the role of PRPP as regulator of PurR.     

Characterization of a Salmonella typhimurium mutant defective in phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase

This study describes the isolation and characterization of a mutant (strain GP122) of Salmonella typhimurium with a partial deficiency of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) synthetase activity. This strain was isolated in a purE deoD gpt purin auxotroph by a procedure designed to select guanosine-utilizing mutants. Strain GP122 had roughly 15% of the PRPP synthetase activity and 25% of the PRPP pool of its parent strain. The mutant exhibited many of the predicted consequences of a decreased PRPP pool and a defective PRPP synthetase enzyme, including: poor growth on purine bases; decreased accumulation of 5-aminoimidazole ribonucleotide (the substrate of the blocked purE reaction) under conditions of purine starvation; excretion of anthranilic acid when grown in medium lacking tryptophan; increased resistance to inhibition by 5-fluorouracil; derepressed levels of aspartate transcarbamylase and orotate phosphoribosyltransferase, enzymes involved in the pyrimidine de novo biosynthetic pathway; growth stimulation by PRPP-sparing compounds (e.g. guanosine, histidine); poor growth in low phosphate medium; and increased heat lability of the defective enzyme. This mutant strain also had increased levels of guanosine 5'-monophosphate reductase. This genetic lesion, designated prs, was mapped by conjugation and phage P22-mediated transduction at 35 units on the Salmonella linkage map.