A total of 40 fecal and environmental isolates, including 26 Escherichia coli strains, 9 members of the genus Klebsiella, and 5 members of the genus Enterobacter, were tested by enzyme assay for their endogenous and induced levels of lysine decarboxylase and ornithine decarboxylase when grown in Moeller decarboxylase medium. All of the coliforms examined had measurable lysine decarboxylase and ...

Topical application of retinole acid to mouse skin led to a dramatic inhibition of phorbol ester (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate)-induced epidermal ornithine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.17) activity, an event proposed to be essen tial for tumor promotion. The degree of inhibition was de pendent on the dose and time of application of retinoic acid. In contrast, treatment with retinoic acid did...

were not secondary to stimulation of steroidogenesis, since hydrocortisone had no effect on adrenal ornithine decarboxylase although it did stimulate activity of the enzyme in the liver and kidney. ACTH, given subcutaneously to hypophysectomized rats, induced striking increases in adrenal cyclic AMP levels within 15-30 min with a fall towards the base line in 1 h. Increases in ornithine decarbo...

We wished to identify metabolic signals governing changes in ornithine decarboxylase (L-ornithine carboxy-lyase, EC 4.1.1.17) activity in Neurospora crassa. By manipulations of the ornithine supply and by the use of inhibitors of the polyamine pathway, we found that spermidine negatively governs formation of active ornithine decarboxylase and that putrescine promotes inactivation of the enzyme....

The induction of ornithine decarboxylase by normal rat urine in bladder cancer cell cultures was tested in view of recent observations that urine acts as a tumor promoter. Addition of urine up to 15% in final concentration to culture medium resulted in a 10-fold increase in ornithine decarboxylase activity over the control. The stimulatory factor(s) contained in urine appears heat stable and ma...

In a number of biological systems undergoing accelerated growth there is a rapid accumulation of polyamines, particularly spermidine, in parallel with RNA. One of the first events in such systems is a rapid increase in the activity of ornithine decarboxylase to as much as 100 times control values (Williams-Ashman, 1972). However, the increase in the amount of polyamines is much less marked, usu...

Incubation of S49 lymphoma cells with N6,O2'-dibutyryl cyclic AMP (Bt2cAMP) decreases the activities of ornithine decarboxylase (L-ornithine carboxy-lyase; EC 4.1.1.17) and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (S-adenosyl-L-methionine carboxy-lyase; EC 4.1.1.50), the two principal enzymes in the pathway of polyamine synthesis. This decrease is dose-dependent, commences after a 3-hr delay, virtual...

Changes in the contents of polyamines (PAs) in tobacco leaves (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Wisconsin 38) grown under 16 h photoperiod were correlated with arginine and ornithine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.19 and EC 4.1.1.17) and diamine oxidase (EC 1.4.3.6) activities. The maximum of free and soluble conjugated forms of PAs occurred 1-2 h after the middle of the light period and was followed by two d...

The polyamines putrescine, spermidine, and spermine and their biosynthetic enzymes arginine decarboxylase, ornithine decarboxylase and S-adenosyl-l-methionine decarboxylase are present in all parts of dormant potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers. They are equally distributed among the buds of apical and lateral regions and in nonbud tissues. However, the breaking of dormancy and initiation of s...

Ornithine decarboxylase, the first enzyme of the polyamine biosynthetic pathway, is induced by androgens in the mouse kidney. We have isolated from a kidney cDNA clone bank two plasmids, pODC1440 and pODC934 , that contain different cDNA inserts corresponding to ornithine decarboxylase mRNA. Identification was based upon the ability of plasmid-specific mRNAs to encode a 53,000-dalton polypeptid...