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To characterize and compare the thymidine (TdR) and deoxycytidine (CdR) kinase isozymes of uninfected and herpesvirus-infected cells: (i) the subcellular distribution of the isozymes has been studied; (ii) a specific assay for CdR kinase has been devised; (iii) the TdR kinase isozymes have been partially purified; and (iv) the purified enzymes have been analyzed by disc polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, isoelectric focusing, and glycerol gradient centrifugation and by substrate competition and dCTP inhibition studies. The results indicate that there are interesting individual differences with respect to nucleoside acceptor specificity between the cytosol and mitochondrial pyrimidine deoxyribonucleoside kinases of uninfected cells and between the enzymes induced by different herpesviruses. In the cytosol of uninfected mouse, chicken, and owl monkey kidney cells, two different proteins, TdR kinase F and CdR kinase 2, catalyze the phosphorylations of TdR and CdR, respectively. TdR kinase F does not phosphorylate CdR, nor does CdR kinase 2 phosphorylate TdR. A second TdR kinase isozyme present in HeLa(BU25) mitochondria (TdR kinase B) also lacks CdR phosphorylating activity. In contrast, a genetically distinctive deoxypyrimidine kinase (TdR kinase A) of mouse, human, and chick mitochondria catalyzes the phosphorylation of both TdR and CdT. Three herpesviruses, marmoset herpesvirus and herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2, induce in the cytosol fraction of LM(TK-) mouse cells isozymes which share common properties with mitochondrial TdR kinase A, including the ability to catalyze the phosphorylation of both TdR and CdR. However, the herpesvirus-induced deoxypyrimidine kinases differ from mitochondrial TdR kinase A with respect to sedimentation coefficient, sensitivity to dCTP inhibition, and antigenic determinants. The herpesvirus-specific and the mitochondrial deoxypyrimidine kinases exhibit a preference for TdR over CdR as nucleoside acceptor. Pseudorabies virus and herpesvirus of turkeys induce cytosol TdR kinases resembling the other herpesvirus-induced TdR kinases in several properties, but like cellular TdR kinase F, the pseudorabies virus and herpesvirus of turkeys TdR kinases lack detectable CdR phosphorylating activities. Finally, a marmoset herpesvirus nutant resistant to bromodeoxyuridine, equine herpesvirus type 1, and Herpesvirus aotus induces neither TdR nor CdR phosphorylating enzymes during productive infections.

Distinctive thymidine (dT) kinase molecular forms are present in mouse, human, and monkey mitochondria. Disk polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (disk PAGE) analyses have shown that the mitochondrial-specific dT kinases differ from cytosol dT kinases in relative electrophoretic mobilities (Rm). Furthermore, the mouse mitochondrial dT kinase differs in Rm value from primate mitochondrial dT kinases. The mouse and primate cytosol dT kinases can also be distinguished. Disk PAGE analyses have been carried out on the cytosol and mitochondrial dT kinases of human-mouse (WIL-8) and monkey-mouse (mK.CV(III)) somatic cell hybrids in order to learn whether the mitochondria of the hybrid cells contained murine mitochondrial-specific, primate mitochondrial-specific, or both dT kinases. WIL-8 cells were derived from cytosol dT kinase-negative, mitochondrial dT kinase-positive mouse fibro blasts and from cytosol dT kinase-positive, mitochondrial dT kinase-positive human embryonic lung cells; they contained mostly mouse chromosomes and a few human chromosomes, including the determinant for human cytosol dT kinase. The mK.CV(III) cells were derived from cytosol dT kinase-negative, mitochondrial dT kinase-positive mouse kidney cells and from cytosol dT kinase-positive, mitochondrial dT kinase-positive monkey kidney cells; they contained mostly mouse chromosomes and a few monkey chromosomes, including the determinant for monkey cytosol dT kinase. Disk PAGE analyses demonstrated that the mitochondria of human-mouse and monkey-mouse somatic cell hybrids contained the mouse-specific mitochondrial dT kinase but not the human- or monkey-specific mitochondrial dT kinase. These findings suggest that primate cytosol and mitochondrial thymidine kinase genes are coded on different chromosomes.