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Biomedical subjects

M A Becker

Publications and source records attributed to M A Becker.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Regional localization of the gene for human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase on the X chromosome.

Sixty-eight independent hybrid clones were isolated after irradiated normal human lymphocytes were fused with Chinese hamster fibroblasts lacking hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase activity. The cells were grown under selective conditions requiring retention of the X chromosome-linked locus for human hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. The frequency and patterns of cotransference of human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase with the selected marker and with additional X-linked enzymatic markers confirm X linkage of the structural gene for human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase and support assignment of this gene to a position on the long arm of the X, between the loci for alpha-galactosidase and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed1978

Evidence for X-linkage of human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase.

The mode of genetic transmission of human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase (ribosephosphate pyrophosphokinase; ATP:D-ribose-5-phosphate pyrophosphotransferase; EC 2.7.6.1) was studied in fibroblasts cultured from members of a family with a structurally and electrophoretically altered phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase that has increased activity per enzyme molecule. Enzyme activity in fibroblast lysates from the daughter of an affected male patient was intermediate to the activities in lysates from her father (and her affected paternal uncle) and from her mother and other normal individuals. Two bands of enzyme activity corresponding to normal and mutant phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetases were found in fibroblast lysates from the daughter after cellulose acetate strip electrophoresis. In contrast, only mutant enzyme was detectable in lysates derived from the male patients. Fibroblasts cloned from the daughter contained two phenotypically distinct (normal and mutant) populations of cells with respect to phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase activity and electrophoretic mobility. These studies support assignment of the structural gene for human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase to the X-chromosome. No evidence for the presence of the normal enzyme was found in erythrocyte or lymphocyte lysates or in partially purified erythrocyte enzyme preparations from the heterozygous daughter, suggesting either nonrandom X-chromosome inactivation in precursors of these cells or selection against hematopoietic cells bearing the normal enzyme after random X-chromosome inactivation.

Cells, Cultured↗
PubMed1977

Uricosuric effects of niridazole.

Niridazole, an antischistosomal drug, caused a 44% decrease in the serum uric acid (SUA) concentration in 11 patients with schistosomiasis. The mean SUA (+/- SE) was 6.3 +/- 1.4 mg/100 ml at baseline and 3.5 +/- 1.5 mg/100 ml (p less than 0.01) on day 7 of treatment. There was a significant increase in the urinary uric acid/creatinine ratio, from 0.446 +/- 0.165 at baseline to 0.550 +/- 0.145 on day 3. There was no significant difference on day 7. The fractional clearance of uric acid rose from 7.2 +/- 6.8% to 13.9 +/- 17.3% (p less than 0.01), indicating a uricosuric effect. Oxypurine excretion was unchanged. In a separate study on 7 other patients, the SUA remained low for 4 to 7 days after the last dose. Niridazole, although not an organic acid, has uricosuric effects.

Creatinine↗
PubMed1977

Effects of inosine on purine synthesis in normal and HGPRT-deficient human fibroblasts.

1. Incubation of normal and HGPRT-deficient fibroblasts with inosine results in increased PP-ribose-P concentrations. 2. The increased PP-ribose-P concentrations are accompanied by decreased rates of purine synthesis de novo, more marked in normal cells 3. Increased purine nucleotide concentrations during incubation with inosine provide a likely explanation for the inhibition of purine synthesis in normal cells 4. The lack of accelerated purine synthesis in mutant cells under these conditions is not fully explained by consideration of PP-ribose-P and purine nucleotide concentations.

Cells, Cultured↗
PubMed1976

Regulation of purine nucleotide synthesis. Effects of inosine on normal and hypoxantine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase-deficient fibroblasts.

Incubation of normal and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase-deficient (mutant) human fibroblasts with inosine results in increased intracellular concentration of 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate (PP-ribose-P). The magnitude of this increase is dependent on the concentration of the nucleoside and results from donation of the ribose moiety of inosine to the ribosyl phosphate moiety of PP-ribose-P through ribose phosphate intermediates. During incubation, rates of purine nucleotide synthesis de novo, estimated by incorporation of (14C) formate into formylglycinamide ribotide, are diminished in both normal and mutant cells: 5 mM inosine inhibits purine synthesis by 60-80% in normal cells and 2-20% in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase-deficient cells. The rates of purine synthesis in both normal and mutant cells are increased, however, during incubation with methylene blue at concentrations (50-100 muM) which result in more modest increases in ribose 5-phosphate and PP-ribose-P concentrations than are observed with inosine. Saturation of the PP-ribose-P amidotransferase reaction by PP-ribose-P does not appear, therefore, to explain the failure of increased PP-ribose-P concentration to stimulate the rate of purine synthesis in either type of fibroblast during incubation with inosine. Although the dissociation between PP-ribose-P concentration and the rate of purine nucleotide synthesis in normal fibroblasts incubated with inosine may be explained at least in part by an accompanying increase in intracellular concentrations of purine nucleotide feedback inhibitors, purine nucleotide concentrations are unchanged in mutant cells during incubation with inosine; these cells, in addition, show minimal (less than 3% of normal) incorporation of labeled hypoxanthine or the hypoxanthine moiety of inosine into purine nucleotides. The effect of inosine on purine synthesis de novo in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase-deficient fibroblasts is not explained in full by consideration of the concentrations of purine nucleotides and of PP-ribose-P, the factors frequently invoked as antagonistic regulators controlling the rate of this process.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Patterns of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate and ribose-5-phosphate concentration and generation in fibroblasts from patients with gout and purine overproduction.

In the majority of patients with gout and excessive uric acid production, underlying enzyme abnormalities have not been identified. In the present study, measurement of both the rate of generation and concentration of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PP-ribose-P) and the concentration of ribose-5-phosphate in cultured cells were undertaken to establish a classification of purine overproducers to direct study of additional enzyme defects. Fibroblasts were cultured from 24 individuals assigned to 4 groups: group 1, 5 normal controls; group 2, 5 patients with gout and normal dialy urinary uric acid excretion (gouty controls); group 3, 7 patients with well-defined enzyme abnormalities and excessive urinary acid excretion (4 with hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency and 3 with excessive PP-ribose-P synthetase activity); and group 4, 7 patients with gout and excessive uric acid excretion but without grossly abnormal activities of the above enzymes in erythrocyte lysates. In all 14 fibroblast strains from patients showing excessive production of uric acid (groups 3 and 4), rates of purine synthesis de novo and PP-ribose-P concentrations exceeded values for cells from control groups. Cells from group 3 patients with hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency showed normal PP-ribose-P generation, while those with excessive PP-ribose-P synthetase activity demonstrated increased generation of this regulatory substrate. All strains from group 3 patients had normal ribose-5-phosphate concentrations. Five cell strains from group 4 patients showed one of the two patterns of abnormalities in these measurements seen in strains from group 3 patients: two resembled hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase-deficient cells, and three resembled cells with excessive PP-ribose-P synthetase activity. Analyses of erythrocyte enzyme preparations from two of these patients in group 4 have led to identification of a kinetic variant of each enzyme as predicted from the foregoing patterns. Two additional group 4 cell lines that showed increased ribose-5-phosphate concentrations in addition to increased PP-ribose-P concentrations and generation were classified in a separate subgroup, since in the individuals excessive purine synthesis appeared to result from increases ribose-5-phosphate concentration, leading to increased availability of PP-ribose-P. No abnormality in either hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase or PP-ribose-P synthetase has been found in erythrocyte preparations from one patient so classified.

Adenine Phosphoribosyltransferase↗
PubMed1975

Human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase. Comparison of purified normal and mutant enzymes.

Human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase has been purified 4500-fold to electrophoretic homogeneity from the erythrocytes of normal individuals and of two brothers in whom excessive activity of this enzyme results in excessive rated of purine nucleotide and uric acid synthesis de novo and gouty arthritis. Structural differences between the normal and mutant enzymes are indicated by a lower isoelectric point for the mutant enzyme (pI 4.85) than for the normal enzyme (pI 5.10); decreased electrophoretic mobility of the mutant preparation on cellulose acetate gel at low inorganic phosphate concentrations; increased (2.4-fold) inactivation of the mutant enzyme activity relative to the normal by identical amounts of a specific antiserum which precipitates identical quantities of normal and mutant enzyme; increased thermal lability of the mutant enzyme at 55 degrees; and an increased (2.2-fold) specific enzyme activity for the mutant enzyme despite the comparable purity of the preparations. Antibody inactivation, quantitative precipitin, and immunodiffusion studies as well as the disparity in specific enzyme activities during the course of purification suggest that a structural alteration in the mutant enzyme leads to increased catalytic activity per enzyme molecule, either from a primary alteration in the structural gene(s) for phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase or from a post-transcriptional alteration in the enzyme. Purified preparations of normal and mutant enzymes showed nearly identical affinity constants for magnesium and the substrates, ATP and ribose 5-phosphate, as well as similar inhibition constants for the products, PP-ribose-P and AMP, and the inhibitors ADP, GDP, and 2,3-diphosphoglycerate. An increased maximal velocity of the reaction was, thus, the sole kinetic difference identified. The increased velocity of the mutant enzyme reaction was constant over a range of inorganic phosphate concentrations from 0.1 to 100 mM. Subunit molecular weights of the enzyme preparations, estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis, were identical (32,000), although the undenatured mutant enzyme showed a greater proportion of stainable protein in the smaller of two molecular weight forms (both greater than 500,000) of the enzyme demonstrated on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of 1 mM sodium phosphate.

Enzyme Activation↗