Correlation of guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase activity and the synthesis of pterins in Drosophila melanogaster.

The enzyme guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase (GTP cyclohydrolase), which in bacteria is known to be the first enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway for the synthesis of pteridines, has been discovered in extracts of Drosophila melanogaster. Most of the enzyme (80%) is located in the head of the adult fly. An analysis of enzyme activity during development in Drosophila has revealed the presence of a relatively small peak of activity at pupariation and a much larger peak that appears at about the time of eclosion. Enzyme activity declines radidly as the fly ages. Analysis for the production of the typical pteridine pigments of Drosophila have indicated that the small peak of GTP cyclohydrolase activity evident at pupariation coincides with the appearance of isoxanthopterin, sepiapterin, and pterin, and the larger peak at eclosion roughly corresponds to the accumulation of drospterin as well as to the appearence in larger amounts of pterin and sepiaterin. These observations strongly suggest that in Drosophila, like bacteria, GTP cyclohydrolase is involved in the biosynthesis of pteridines. Analyses of a variety of zeste mutants of Drosophila melanogaster have shown that these mutants all contain GTP cyclohydrolase equal approximately to the amount found in the wild-type fly. These observations do not support the suggestions made by Rasmusson et al. (1973) that zeste is the strucural locus for GTP cyclohydrolase.