JBC, Vol. 250, Issue 15, 5756-5767, Aug, 1975
Purine and pyrimidine transport by cultured Novikoff cells. Specificities and mechanism of transport and relationship to phosphoribosylation
J. M. Zylka and P. G. Plagemann
Adenine, guanine, and hypoxanthine were rapidly incorporated into the
acid-soluble nucleotide pool and nucleic acids by wild type Novikoff cells.
Incorporation followed normal Michaelis-Menten kinetics, but the following
evidence indicates that specific transport processes precede the
phosphoribosyltransferase reactions and are the rate-limiting step in
purine incorporation by whole cells. Cells of an azaguanine-resistant
subline of Novikoff cells which lacked hypoxanthine-guanine
phosphoribosyltransferase activity and failed to incorporate guanine or
hypoxanthine into the nucleotide pool, exhibited uptake of guanine and
hypoxanthine by a saturable process. Similarly, wild type cells which had
been preincubated in a glucose-free basal medium containing KCN and
iodoacetate transported guanine and hypoxanthine normally, although a
conversion of these purines to nucleotides did not occur in these cells.
The mutant and KCN-iodoacetate treated wild type cells also exhibited
countertransport of guanine and hypoxanthine when preloaded with various
purines, uracil, and pyrimidine nucleosides. The cells also possess a
saturable transport system for uracil although they lack
phosphoribosyltransferase activity for uracil. In the absence of
phosphoribosylation, none of the substrates was accumulated against a
concentration gradient. Thus transport is by facilitated diffusion
(nonconcentrative transport). Furthermore, the apparent Km values for
purine uptake by untreated wild type and azaguanine-resistant cells were
higher and the apparent Vmax values were lower than those for the
corresponding phosphoribosyltransferases...