In situ enzymatic removal of orthophosphate by the nucleoside phosphorylase catalyzed phosphorolysis of nicotinamide riboside.

An enzymatic orthophosphate removal system is described which can be effectively used to continuously remove orthophosphate from biochemical samples. The phosphorolysis of nicotinamide riboside is catalyzed by calf spleen nucleoside phosphorylase to give ribose-1-PO4 and nicotinamide along with a proton. At pH 8 the production of ribose-1-PO4 from orthophosphate is essentially quantitative. This reaction can be monitored optically or by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Equations are given for determining the time required to remove a given amount of phosphate from a typical NMR sample with a known amount of nucleoside phosphorylase. The effects of a competing orthophosphate-producing reaction are considered.