Basis for the control of purine biosynthesis by purine ribonucleotides

An animal model was used to determine the basis for the increase in purine biosynthesis that results from hepatic depletion of purine nucleotides, such as seen in patients with type I glycogen storage disease or following fructose administration. Mice were injected intravenously with glucose or fructose, 2.5 mg/g of body weight, and the animals were killed at 0, 3, and 30 min following carbohydrate infusion. Fructose, but not glucose, administration led to a threefold increase in [14C]glycine incorporation into hepatic purine nucleotides documenting an increase in the rate of purine biosynthesis in the liver of fructose-treated animals. In the fructose, but not the glucose-treated animals, there was a reduction in the hepatic content of purine nucleotides that are inhibitory for amidophosphoribosyltransferase, the enzyme that catalyzes the first reaction unique to the pathway of purine biosynthesis. PP-ribose-P, an important metabolite in the control of purine biosynthesis, was increased 2,3-fold in liver following fructose, but not glucose administration. In conjunction with the decrease in inhibitory nucleotides and increase in PP-ribose-P 29% of amidophosphoribosyltransferase was shifted from the large inactive to the small active form of the enzyme. Results of these studies demonstrate that the end-products of the pathway, purine nucleotides, control the activity of the enzyme that catalyzes the first reaction leading to purine nucleotide synthesis either through a direct effect of purine nucleotides on the enzyme, through an indirect effect of the change in nucleotides on PP-ribose-P synthesis, or a combination of these effects. The resultant changes in amidophosphoribosyltransferase conformation and activity provide a basis for understanding the increase in purine biosynthesis that results from hepatic depletion of purine nucleotides.