GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATE AND 6-PHOSPHOGLUCONATE DEHYDROGENASES FROM EGGS OF THE SEA URCHIN, ARBACIA PUNCTULATA

Abstract

1. Glucose-6-phosphate and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenases have been found in homogenates of Arbacia eggs; 95 per cent of the activity toward each substrate is recovered in the supernatant fraction after centrifuging at 20,000 g for 30 minutes. 2. With glucose-6-phosphate as substrate) the rate of TPN reduction by the supernatant fraction from 1 gm. wet weight unfertilized or fertilized eggs was 1.8 to 3.0 micromoles per minute; this rate is sufficient to support a rate of oxygen consumption 24 times that observed for unfertilized, and 6 times that for fertilized, eggs. Pentose was formed from glucose-6-phosphate at a rate 0.3 to 0.5 that of TPN reduction, when both rates were expressed as micromoles per minute. 3. The concentrations of glucose-6-phosphate and 6-phosphogluconate for half maximal activity were each approximately 0.00004 M for the respective enzymes in the supernatant fraction. Maximal activity toward 6-phosphogluconate was 50 to 60 per cent of that toward glucose-6-phosphate. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity was 50 per cent inhibited in presence of 0.00006 M 2,4,5-trichlorophenol. 4. Reduction of DPN by the supernatant fraction in presence of fructose-1,6-diphosphate and ADP was 0.1 to 0.2 micromoles per minute per gm. wet eggs, indicating that the glycolytic pathway can metabolize glucose-6-phosphate at about 5 per cent the rate at which it can be oxidized by the TPN system from unfertilized or fertilized Arbacia eggs. 5. Phosphoglucomutase, hexose isomerase, and a phosphatase for fructose-1,6-diphosphate also appear to be present in Arbacia eggs.