Abstract
A cytosolic polyamine N-acetyltransferase that preferentially catalyzes the acetylation of spermidine in the N 8-position was identified in the free-living pathogenic amoeba Acanthamoeba culbertsoni. In addition to spermidine, the enzyme also catalyzed the acetylation of spermine and putrescine with Michaelis constants (K m values) of 97, 12, and 10 μM, respectively. The K m value for acetylcoenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) was estimated to be 11 μM, whereas CoA had an inhibitory constant of 6 μM. The N-acetylase has a molecular mass of approximately 45 kDa. That the enzyme preferentially catalyzed the acetylation of spermidine at the N 8-position, resulting in N 8-acetylspermidine, the preferred substrate of the polyamine oxidase found in A. culbertsoni, indicates a role for the enzyme in the production of 1,3-diaminopropane, the major polyamine found in the Acanthamoeba.
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Received: 20 June 1995 / Accepted: 16 September 1995
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Shukla, O., Aisien, S., Bergmann, B. et al. Identification of the polyamine N 8-acetyltransferase involved in the pathway of 1,3-diaminopropane production in Acanthamoeba culbertsoni . Parasitol Res 82, 270–272 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004360050110
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004360050110