Characterization of the thymidine kinase of Physarum polycephalum.

Thymidine kinase [ATP: thymidine 5'-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.21] has been purified more than 3,500 fold from microplasmodia of Physarum polycephalum. Properties of the enzyme were determined on preparations purified 1,400 fold. Thymidine was transformed to dTMP while a stoichiometric quantity of ATP was transformed to ADP. 5-Iododeoxyuridine, 5-bromodeoxyuridine, and 5-fluorodeoxyuridine acted as competitive inhibitors for the thymidine substrate while 5-bromodeoxyuridine could be used as a substrate. In contrast uridine did not inhibit the enzymatic activity while deoxyuridine was a very poor competitive inhibitor in agreement with the observation that deoxyuridine could not be used as a substrate. Two apparent Michaelis constants were found for thymidine. Only the highest Michaelis constant could be decreased in the presence of increasing concentrations of ATP. Among the various nucleoside mono, di, or triphosphates studied only ATP and to a less extent dATP could be used as phosphate donors. A non competitive inhibition for thymidine was observed with dTTP. dTMP, dTDP, and dTTP acted as competitive inhibitors for ATP. None of the nucleoside mono, di, or triphosphates studied showed an activatory effect at low concentrations of ATP, even in the presence of dTTP. However, dUTP and dGDP acted as competitive inhibitors for ATP.