In humans, mutations in the gene encoding the purine salvage enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) are associated with a spectrum of disease that ranges from hyperuricemia alone to hyperuricemia with profound neurological and behavioral dysfunction. Previous attempts to correlate different types or locations of mutations with different elements of the disease phenotype ha...

In the search for homologous chromosome regions in man and mouse, the locus for cytoplasmic superoxide dismutase (SOD-1; superoxide:superoxide oxidoreductase, EC 1.15.1.1) is of particular interest. In man, the SOD-1 gene occupies the same subregion of chromosome 21 that causes Down syndrome when present in triplicate. Although not obviously implicated in the pathogenesis, SOD-1 is considered t...

To test the hypothesis that intact gap-junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) is necessary for genomic stability, we compared the spontaneous and chemically induced mutation frequencies in GJIC-proficient and -deficient HeLa cells. Thus, we determined microsatellite instability and mutation frequency in the HPRT gene in parental HeLa cells, which have no GJIC ability, and in HeLa cells i...

Present day use of mobile phones is ubiquitous. This causes some concern for human health due to exposure to high-frequency electromagnetic fields (HFEMF) from mobile phones. Consequently, we have examined the effects of 2.45 GHz electromagnetic fields on bacterial mutations and the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) gene mutations. Using the Ames test, bacteria were exposed...

Cadmium is a potential carcinogenic environmental and occupational pollutant. A wide variety of mutagens have been shown to cause DNA damage, but it is not yet clear whether the DNA damage is relative to inducement of mutations. DNA damage and the formation of mutations at the hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl trans ferase (HPRT) induced by cadmium chloride (CdCl(2)) were investigated with ra...

Naturally occurring mutations in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) have been identified by amino acid sequencing, cDNA cloning, and direct nucleotide sequencing of PCR-amplified transcripts. To determine the effect these mutations have on the catalytic properties of the molecule, knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of HPRT is required. A prerequisite for this, howev...

Inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the de novo synthesis of guanine nucleotides, which are also synthesized from guanine by a salvage reaction catalyzed by the X chromosome-linked enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT). Since inhibitors of IMPDH are in clinical use as immunosuppressive agents, we have examined the consequences of ...

Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) deficiency is an X-linked defect of purine metabolism. Clinical manifestations are usually related to the degree of enzyme deficiency; complete HPRT deficiency (Lesh-Nyhan Syndrome) presenting with severe neurological or renal symptoms, or partial HPRT deficiency (Kelley-Seegmiller syndrome) manifesting as a gout-urolithiasis syndrome. We r...

The preponderance of G:C to A:T transitions in inherited and somatic human mutations has led to the hypothesis that some of these mutations arise as a result of formation of O(6)-methylguanine in DNA. To test this hypothesis, the fine structure map of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG)-induced mutations was determined in human lymphoblastoid cells in the human hypoxanthine-guanine-phos...

Lesch-Nyhan disease is caused by a deficiency of the purine salvage enzyme, hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT). The link between HPRT deficiency and the neuropsychiatric symptoms is unknown. In rat B103 neuroblastoma cell membranes and mouse Neuro2a neuroblastoma cell membranes, nucleoside 5'-triphosphatase (NTPase) activity is substantially reduced, whereas in fibroblast membranes ...