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. 1972 Aug;111(2):412–418. doi: 10.1128/jb.111.2.412-418.1972

Effect of Spermine on the Uptake of Amino Acids in Micrococcus lysodeikticus

Miriam Ariel a,1, Nathan Grossowicz a
PMCID: PMC251298  PMID: 5053465

Abstract

Spermine inhibited the transport of neutral aliphatic amino acids (valine, leucine, isoleucine, alanine, and glycine) into cells of Micrococcus lysodeikticus. On the other hand, spermine did not affect the uptake of basic (arginine and histidine), acidic (glutamic acid), or aromatic (phenylalanine and tyrosine) amino acids. Inhibition of uptake of the neutral amino acids by spermine is apparently of a noncompetitive nature; the Vmax decreased, whereas the apparent Km remained unaltered. The inhibition is most likely due to a specific binding of spermine to the carrier(s) of these amino acids. Related polyamines, spermidine and cadaverine, also caused inhibition of valine uptake, though to a lesser extent; spermidine was less active than spermine, and cadaverine showed the weakest effect of all. Valine, leucine, and isoleucine were transported into M. lysodeikticus cells by a common carrier as evidenced from competition experiments. The uptake of these amino acids is an active process; it was temperature-dependent and inhibited by azide (10−1m to 2.5 × 10−2m) and dinitrophenol (10−3m). The intracellular concentration of valine was 100-fold higher than in the medium.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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