The pyridine-nucleotide cycle in tobacco Enzyme activities for the de-novo synthesis of NAD.

The enzyme activities of the pyridine-nucleotide cycle, which transform nicotinic acid mononucleotide (NaMN) into NAD, have been characterized. The investigations were based on the extraction of protein, its purification on disposable gel-filtration columns, and determination of the enzymatic activities by high-performance liquid chromatography techniques. The latter technique avoided the synthesis and use of radioactive precursors. The NaMN-adenylyltransferase which converts NaMN into NaAD (nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide) and NAD-synthetase which converts NaAD into NAD were characterized by their kinetic parameters and their specific activities in different tobacco tissues. This is the first report on NAD-synthetase from tissue of a higher plant. It was found that NAD-synthetase accepted both glutamine and asparagine for the amide transfer. Adenylyltransfer also occured with nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) which was transformed to NAD, whereas the glutamine-dependent amidation was only observed with NaAD. Thus, an additional route for the synthesis of NAD (NaMN→NMN→NAD) obviously does not exist. A comparison of the enzyme activities in tobacco tissues with different capacities for the synthesis of nicotine showed that, in contrast to quinolinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase whose activity was strictly correlated with the nicotine content, only NaMN-adenylyltransferase showed a smooth correlation, whereas NAD-synthetase was not affected at all.