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J Bacteriol. 1961 December; 82(6): 867-874
Copyright © 1961, The Williams & Wilkins Company. All Rights Reserved.

ROLE OF ONE-CARBON PRECURSORS IN THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID IN BACTERIOPHAGE-INFECTED AND GROWING CELLS OF ESCHERICHIA COLI¹

^a Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

ABSTRACT

NESTER, EUGENE W. (Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio) AND JOHN SPIZIZEN. Role of one-carbon precursors in the biosynthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid in bacteriophage-infected and growing cells of Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 82:867–874. 1961.—The ability of growing and T2 bacteriophage-infected cells of Escherichia coli to incorporate serine-3-C¹⁴, glycine-2-C¹⁴, formate-C¹⁴, and formaldehyde-C¹⁴ into purine and pyrimidine moieties of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was determined. All four one-carbon precursors are effective contributors to the DNA-purines, but only glycine-2-C¹⁴ and serine-3-C¹⁴ are incorporated into the side chains of the pyrimidines. In addition, formate-C¹⁴ becomes incorporated only into position 8 of the purine ring, whereas isotope from serine-3-C¹⁴ and glycine-2-C¹⁴ is incorporated equally into the 2 and 8 positions. No qualitative differences were observed in the patterns of incorporation of any one-carbon units in growing or bacteriophage-infected cells. However, the 3-carbon of serine serves as a more effective precursor of the 2 and 8 positions of the DNA purine ring when the cells are infected. Formate-C¹⁴ and to a slight extent glycine-2-C¹⁴ are somewhat better precursors of these positions when the cells are infected under appropriate conditions.

² Present address: Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.

¹ These data are taken from a thesis submitted to Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, by Eugene W. Nester, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and were obtained during the tenure of a Public Health Predoctoral Fellowship (EF-9093). A preliminary report appeared in Federation Proc. 18(1959). This work was performed under contract No. (AT(30-1)-1045) with the Division of Biology and Medicine of the Atomic Energy Commission.