Abstract
Humans afflicted by hereditary orotic aciduria are characterized by insufficiencies in the de novo pyrimidine pathway. Mutants at a nuclear gene locus in Arabidopsis, in contrast, exhibit increased activities of orotidylic acid (O5P) pyrophosphorylase (2.4.2.10) and O5P-decarboxylase (4.1.1.23). In the plants, as well as in human cells, the symptoms of the genetic disorder can be partly cured by feeding the pyrimidine analogue 6-azauracil. In normal human cells, the supply of the antimetabolite 6-azauridine leads to augmented levels of these enzymes, and in the cell cultures of patients suffering from orotic aciduria type I nearly normal levels of the enzymes are observed. In the tissues of Arabidopsis, on 6-azauracil administration, the level of O5P-pyrophosphorylase decreases while that of O5P-decarboxylase is elevated. The genetic alteration may involve a regulatory function in both humans and plants.
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Contribution from the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station. Journal Series No. 6802. Approved.
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Chung, S.C., Rédei, G.P. An anomaly of the genetic regulation of the de novo pyrimidine pathway in the plant Arabidopsis . Biochem Genet 11, 441–453 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00486077
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00486077