Biosynthesis of pyridoxine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae--origin of the pyridoxine nitrogen atom differs under anaerobic and aerobic conditions.

The amide nitrogen atom of glutamine is incorporated into pyridoxine in four eukaryotes (i.e., Emericella nidulans, Mucor racemosus, Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and two prokaryotes (i.e., Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis). However, in the prokaryotes Pseudomonas putida, Enterobacter aerogenes and Escherichia coli, it is the nitrogen atom of glutamate that is incorporated into pyridoxine (J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (2000) 46, 55-57). As these results were from experiments conducted under aerobic conditions, we investigated the biosynthesis of pyridoxine on S. cerevisiae under anaerobic conditions. The results showed that [amide-15N]L-glutamine was not incorporated into pyridoxine, unlike the results for aerobic conditions. The incorporation of [15N]ammonium salts into pyridoxine was not inhibited in the presence of casamino acids and tryptophan. The results showed that the nitrogen atoms of amino acids are not used for the biosynthesis of pyridoxine. The incorporation of 15N into pyridoxine was inhibited in the presence of adenine, but not in that of hypoxanthine. Thus, the nitrogen atom of pyridoxine may be from the amino group attached to the C-6 of adenine.