Assay of UDP, GDP, CDP, and ADP reductase activities by column chromatography on polyethyleneimine cellulose

Deoxyribonucleosides were separated from ribonucleosides by chromatography on polyethyleneimine cellulose columns (Pasteur pipettes. The deoxyribonucleosides were quantitatively eluted with 25 mM boric acid in less than 10 ml while the ribonucleosides were retained. The ribonucleosides were eluted with 1 M NaCl. This method was utilized to assay for GDP, UDP, ADP, and CDP reductase activities after hydrolysis of the substrate and product nucleotides to the corresponding nucleosides. All four reductase activities were assayed using identical conditions of column size, eluting solution (25 mM boric acid), and elution volume. The use of polyethyleneimine cellulose columns with boric acid can be adapted to other enzyme assays such as purine nucleoside phosphorylase and for the isolation of deoxyribonucleotides from cellular extracts.