S-Adenosylmethionine (AdoMet or SAM) plays a pivotal role as a methyl donor in a myriad of biological and biochemical events. Although it has been claimed that AdoMet itself has therapeutic benefits, it remains to be established whether it can be taken up intact by cells. S-Adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy), formed after donation of the methyl group of AdoMet to a methyl acceptor, is then hydrolyze...

S-Adenosylmethionine-homocysteine methyltransferase, which catalyzes synthesis of methionine from homocysteine, with the use of S-adenosylmethionine as the methyl donor, is absent in tumor tissue such as rat ascites hepatoma and Morris hepatoma but is present in rat liver homogenate. Absence of the enzymatic activity in tumor cells is not due to the action of an inhibitor. S-Adenosylhomocystein...

It is now firmly established that X-adenosylmethionine is the most important biological methyl donor in a variety of transmethylation reactions (I). However, in spite of the large number of methyltransferases that have been described, little information is available concerning the enzymatic mechanism of the methyl transfer from S-adenosylmethionine to a substrate resulting in the formation of a...

The DNA sequence of the Escherichia coli metK gene has been determined. Protein sequence data for purified S-adenosylmethionine synthetase have also been obtained and confirm that metK is the structural gene for S-adenosylmethionine synthetase in E. coli. The sequence of the amino-terminal 35 residues of purified S-adenosylmethionine synthetase localizes the beginning of the coding region of th...

Cellular and viral S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferases are involved in many regulated processes such as metabolism, detoxification, signal transduction, chromatin remodeling, nucleic acid processing, and mRNA capping. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus nsp16 protein is a S-adenosylmethionine-dependent (nucleoside-2'-O)-methyltransferase only active in the presence o...

After an intraperitoneal injection of 100 mumol of methionine to rats, there is rapid oxidation of the methyl group of hepatic 5-methyltetrahydrofolate to formate and CO2. Recovery of the methylfolate level starts 2.5 h after the methionine injection, when the hepatic methionine level and the S-adenosylmethionine/S-adenosylhomocysteine ratio have returned to baseline values. S-Adenosylmethionin...

BACKGROUND Bacterial production of anionic sulphide is increased in the colon of ulcerative colitis and sulphides can cause metabolic damage to colonocytes. AIMS To assess the reversal of the damaging effect of sulphide to isolated colonocytes by methionine and methionine derivatives. METHODS AND SUBJECTS Isolated colonocytes were prepared from rat colons and 12 human colectomy specimens. I...

Folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism is required for the de novo synthesis of purines, thymidylate, and S-adenosylmethionine, the primary cellular methyl donor. Impairments in folate metabolism diminish cellular methylation potential and genome stability, which are risk factors for colorectal cancer (CRC). Cytoplasmic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT1) regulates the partitioning of folate...

The major photoproduct in UV-irradiated Bacillus spore DNA is a unique thymine dimer called spore photoproduct (SP, 5-thyminyl-5,6-dihydrothymine). The enzyme spore photoproduct lyase (SP lyase) has been found to catalyze the repair of SP dimers to thymine monomers in a reaction that requires S-adenosylmethionine. We present here the first detailed characterization of catalytically active SP ly...

Immunology of the Gut, Ciba Symposium 46, is a welcome update of our current understanding of the role of gut-associated lymphoid tissue in health and disease. It succeeds admirably in documenting the fruitful interaction between clinical medicine and immunology in this field. The symposium is a series of papers presented by leaders in the field of gut immunology and despite multiple authorship...