Availability of Bases and Nucleosides as Precursors of Nucleic Acids in L Cells and in the Agent of Meningopneumonitis

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Abstract
Tribby, IlseI. E. (University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.),and James W. Moulder. Availability of bases and nucleosides as precursors of nucleic acids in L cells and in the agent of meningopneumonitis. J. Bacteriol.91:2362–2367. 1966.—Uninfected L cells and the meningopneumonitis agent propagated in L cells utilized exogenous adenine, guanine, and their ribonucleosides and deoxyribonucleosides for synthesis of both deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid. Cytosine, cytidine, and uridine were also incorporated into the nucleic acids of both host and parasite. L cells and the meningopneumonitis agent incorporated uracil, thymine, and deoxyuridine very poorly. L cells utilized thymidine and deoxycytidine almost exclusively for DNA synthesis, but the meningopneumonitis agent did not incorporate these nucleosides at all. Since the L cell had previously been shown to convert added thymidine to its nucleotides, mainly the triphosphate, it was concluded that the meningopneumonitis agent can utilize neither the thymidine nor the thymidine nucleotides of the L-cell pool, and that it can probably synthesize the thymidine triphosphate needed for DNA synthesis from the uridine of the L-cell pool.