Effects of the amino sugars, glucosamine, mannosamine, or the fluorinated derivative 2-deoxy-fluoroglucose on the phosphatidyl inositol and glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol systems of Tetrahymena.

Sugar derivatives which have an inhibitory effect on glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol (GPI) synthesis in mammals, primarily prevented 32P incorporation in the unicellular Tetrahymena. Incorporation of 3H-mannose and 3H-inositol was induced by mannosamine. While there was a uniform effect of sugar analogues in mammals, they could not elicit totally similar effects in Tetrahymena. Analogues of sugar also affected synthesis in the phosphatidyl inositol (PI) system. Synthesis of GPI in Tetrahymena was different from that in mammals, but the metabolism of GPI and PI revealed similarities.