Polymorphism, genetic stability, and autosomal location of trimeric nucleoside phosphorylase in Peromyscus eremicus cell lines.

Nucleoside phosphorylase (NP: EC 2.4.2.1) has not been demonstrated to be an extensively polymorphic enzyme locus in mammals. We have studied NP electrophoretically in five independently derived cell lines established from Peromyscus eremicus as well as in various tissues of a sixth animal. Four different NP phenotypes involving three different alleles were resolved. The data suggest that (1) the enzyme is trimeric and its genetic locus is polymorphic in P. eremicus, (2) heterozygous enzyme phenotypes are stable during long-term culture, and (3) the enzyme locus is autosomal in Peromyscus.