Nucleoside Diphosphokinase: A Functional Link between Intermediary Metabolism and Nucleic Acid Synthesis

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the functional link between intermediary metabolism and nucleic acid synthesis. Nucleoside diphosphokinase plays a pivotal role in metabolism, as it catalyzes the predominant reaction in synthesizing all but one of the eight common ribo- and deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates. The large DNA virus, on infection of E. coli , causes the rate of DNA synthesis to increase about 10-fold relative to the preinfection rate. This is necessary because of the large size of the genome and the rapid rate of reproduction of the virus. By use of affinity chromatography with an immobilized enzyme as the ligand, specific interactions between T4 dCMP hydroxymethylase and several replication proteins were demonstrated.