Interconvertible forms of Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase with different affinities for analogs of dihydrofolate.

Dihydrofolate reductase from Escherichia coli exists as two species, which show large differences in their affinities for trimethoprim and for pyrimethamine. The two species are present in approximately equal proportions. Each possesses one binding site per mol with dissociation constants (KD) of 14 and 1400 nM, respectively, for the binding of trimethoprim in the binary complex, and of 5 and 47 nM for the pyrimethamine binary complex. In the formation of the ternary complex with NADPH, trimethoprim bound to dihydrofolate reductase as if all the enzyme existed as a single species with a KD for trimethoprim of 1.9 nM. Formation of the trimethoprim NADPH ternary complex thus involves strong cooperative effects, and interconversion of the two species. The binding of pyrimethamine in the ternary complex was indistinguishable from its binding in the binary complex, showing neither the cooperative effects, nor the interconversion of the two species observed with trimethoprim. The species with a low KD for trimethoprim and pyrimethamine could be isolated by selective proteolysis. It was quite stable, but could be converted to a mixture of the original species via formation of the ternary complex with trimethoprim, as predicted from the binding data. The results are interpreted in terms of a model in which the two species can be interconverted only via the formation of a common ternary complex, which can be formed after the binding of trimethoprim or dihydrofolate, but not pyrimethamine. The model is shown to be consistent with all data from the measurements of both binding and inhibition by both ligands.

Two distinct types of trimethoprim-resistant dihydrofolate reductase specified by R-plasmids of different compatibility groups.

R-Plasmids from a number of trimethoprim-resistant Escherichia coli and Citrobacter sp. were studied after transfer to E. coli K12 hosts. Each was found to specify a dihydrofolate reductase which was resistant to trimethoprim and Methotrexate, and which could be completely separated from the host chromosomal enzyme by gel filtration. Two distinct types of R-plasmid dihydrofolate reductases were identified. Type I enzymes, typified by the R483 enzyme previously described (Sköld, O., and Widh, A. (1974) J. Biol. Chem. 249, 4324-4325), are synthesized in amounts severalfold higher than the chromosomal enzyme. The 50% inhibitory concentrations (I50) of trimethoprim, Methotrexate, and aminopterin are increased several thousandfold over the corresponding values for the chromosomal enzyme. Type II R-plasmid dihydrofolate reductases are synthesized in about the same amount, or less, as the chromosomal enzyme, but are practically several hundredfold higher than those for the type I enzymes. Both types of R-plasmid dihydrofolate reductase showed little difference from the chromosomal enzyme in the binding of dihydrofolate, NADPH, folic acid, and 2,4-diaminopyrimidine.

Treatment of American cutaneous leishmaniasis with orally administered allopurinol riboside.

Eighteen patients received 1,250 mg of allopurinol riboside (AR) four times daily for 28 d. Nine of the patients concurrently received 500 mg probenecid (PB) four times daily. Cure was assessed clinically and parasitologically. Patients who had culture-positive and nonhealing lesions 3 mo after therapy received pentavalent antimony. Of the nine patients who received AR alone, four (44%) had clinical improvement at the end of therapy and two (22%) were culture-negative. A third patient became culture negative at 2 mo after therapy. The culture-negative patients were completely healed at 1 mo and remained so at 1 y after therapy. Of the nine patients who received AR plus PB, four had complete healing and two had clinical improvement at the end of therapy; however, all patients remained culture-positive. At 2-3 mo after therapy, six (67%) of the patients were completely healed, and of these, five (56%) were culture-negative. The drug was well-tolerated.