An in vitro System for Studying Pteridine Biosynthesis In Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

In vitro organ culture is a system especially useful for the study of metabolic pathways and their regulation. This report applies such a system to the study of the biosynthesis of pteridines in Drosophila melanogaster, determining in vitro optimal conditions for head cultures, in relation to this metabolic pathway. The validity of the system was tested by applying it to the study of a well-known enzyme, xanthine dehydrogenase, which catalyzes the transformation of pterin into isoxanthopterin. Supplementation experiments with pterin were carried out, determining that, as expected, only those strains having xanthine dehydrogenase activity were able to transform this compound into isoxanthopterin. These results confirm the usefulness of this system for future studies on pteridine metabolism.