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Biomedical subjects

K M Pruitt

Publications and source records attributed to K M Pruitt.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Drug-biomolecule interactions: interactions of mononucleotides and polybasic amino acids.

Histones and ribosomal proteins are basic proteins that participate in gene regulation and protein synthesis, respectively. How these proteins interact with nucleic acids is not yet clear, although specificities in these interactions have been observed. Study of the interaction of mononucleotides with basic polyamino acids is one approach to understanding such interactions. The results of studies with the mononucleotides can help elucidate the normal molecular processes in biological systems and also shed light on some effects of drugs, such as puromycin and tubericidin, that are nucleotide derivatives. A review of studies on the interaction of mononucleotides and basic polyamino acids such as polylysine and polyarginine is presented. In addition, a short review of the self-associative properties of mononucleotides is given. Studies of the mononucleotide-polyamino acid interaction have involved a wide variety of techniques including equilibrium dialysis, NMR, optical rotatory dispersion, circular dichroism, and precipitate analysis.

Amino Acids↗

The roles of synthesis and degradation in determining tissue concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase-5.

C(14)-labeled amino acids were incorporated in vivo into LDH-5 of rat tissues. Different amounts of LDH-5 in liver, heart muscle, and skeletal muscle resulted from differences in rates of both intracellular degradation and synthesis. Rate constants for LDH-5 synthesis were 65, 2, and 5 picomoles per day per gram in rat liver, heart muscle, and skeletal muscle, respectively; rate constants for degradation were 0.041, 0.399, and 0.018 reciprocal days, respectively. The corresponding half-lives for LDH-5 in these tissues were 16, 1.6, and 31 days. Markedly divergent rates of LDH-5 catabolism in various tissues suggest the possibility that one isozyme with a slow rate of destruction may serve to maintain critical enzymatic activity in a tissue where rapid degradation of another isozyme occurs.

Amino Acids↗