Metabolism of 2-amino-3-phosphono[3-14C]propionic acid in cell-free preparations of Tetrahymena.

Incubation of 2-amino-3-phosphono[3-14C]propionic acid with cell-free preparations of Tetrahymena pyriformis resulted in incorporation of the radioactivity into phosphoenolpyruvate. No radioactivity was incorporated into phosphoenolpyruvate and 2-phosphonoacetate. Thus, the catabolic pathway of 2-amino-3-phosphonopropionic acid in Tetrahymena appears to be the same route as that found in rats through deamination to produce 3-phosphonopyruvate which is converted to 2-phosphonoacetaldehyde by decarboxylation, followed by both dephosphonylation and amination of the aldehyde to give acetaldehyde and 2-aminoethylphosphonic acid, respectively.