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Query: UMLS:C0038187 (starvation)
 24,951 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

It has been shown that the net rate of gluconeogenesis from cysteine was only 10% the rate observed from pyruvate. This suggested that the rate limiting step in gluconeogenesis from cysteine was between cysteine and pyruvate. Evidence is presented showing that the cysteine-sulfinate pathway does not play a regulating role in the conversion of cysteine to glucose. Thus, liver cysteine desulfhydrase (CDS) activity and hydrogen sulfide production were evaluated for their potential effects. Liver CDS activity was increased by a 3 day starvation, by feeding a 90% casein diet or a 4% cysteine + 86% casein diet. In all cases the activity of the enzyme was in excess of that required to account for the rate of conversion of cysteine to glucose observed, thus the potential activity of this enzyme was not a rate limiting factor. The possible effect of H2S, an end product of the CDS reaction, on gluconeogenesis from cysteine was evaluated. The addition of NaHS abolished the glucogenic response observed from cysteine, but had very little effect on glucoeogenesis from lactate, suggesting that accumulated H2S may inhibit CDS, marking CDS rate limiting in the conversion of cysteine to pyruvate.
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PMID:Fractors affecting the rate of gluconeogenesis from L-cysteine in the perfused rat liver. 95 11

Cell growth using homocysteine as a source of cysteine-sulphur requires two enzymes, cystathionine synthase (CS) and gamma-cystathionase (CT). The second of these enzymes, CT, is apparently present in most cell lines regardless of their tissues of origin, since most cells can grow in vitro in the absence of cystine if they are provided with cystathionine, the intermediate in the pathway. Likewise, homocysteine will support the growth of many human cells. However, of a wide range of rodent cells, only well-differentiated rat hepatoma cells were found to grow using homocysteine in place of cystine. It is shown that cell growth in homocysteine-medium correlates well with the presence in the cells of detectable levels of CS. Furthermore, in cells able to grow in homocysteine-medium, it is possible to demonstrate the homocysteine-dependent trans-sulphuration of serine to cysteine. Growth in homocysteine-medium is not dependent on the release of preformed cysteine from disulphide complexes with serum proteins. In cell hybrids, and in 'dedifferentiated' variants of rat hepatomas, CS, but not CT, is subject to extinction coordinately with well-characterized liver-specific traits. For rodent cells, homocysteine-medium thus acts as a selective medium requiring the expression of a single liver-specific trait, CS. In addition it is shown that, in certain hepatoma variants, CS is regulated co-ordinately with a urea-cycle enzyme (carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I) by glucocorticoids and cyclic-AMP. Cell death through cysteine starvation is briefly considered. The immediate cause of death is apparently an insufficient supply of reduced glutathione. Selenium and vitamin E assist cell growth when the supply of cysteine is limiting.
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PMID:Characterization of cystathionine synthase as a selectable, liver-specific trait in rat hepatomas. 379 84

The ability of astroglia-rich primary cultures derived from the brains of neonatal rats to take up and metabolize various sulfur containing compounds to cysteine was investigated using the content of intracellular glutathione as an indicator. Astroglial cells were partially depleted of glutathione by starvation for 24 h. Subsequent feeding for 4 h with glucose, glycine, and glutamate resulted in a restoration of the glutathione level, if cysteine was present. Substitution of cysteine by cystine during resynthesis of glutathione led to a glutathione content which exceeded that of cysteine-refed cells by 41%. Half-maximal content of glutathione was found at a concentration of about 12 microM cysteine and a maximal content at a concentration of at least 50 microM cysteine. In contrast, no plateau in the glutathione level was reached with increasing concentrations of cystine. The cystine effect could not be due to a contamination, since it was abolished after reduction of cystine by dithiothreitol. Since the cystine effect was not affected by inhibiting gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, a promotion of cystine uptake by formation of gamma-glutamylcystine can also be excluded. Of the potential cysteine precursors tested, N-acetylcysteine was able to replace cysteine half-maximally at a concentration of 1 mM and fully at 5 mM. Feeding 2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid at a concentration of 5 mM resulted in 64% of the glutathione level found in the presence of cysteine. A half-maximal glutathione content was attained at 50 microM 2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid. While cystathionine could partially replace cysteine, methionine and homocysteine were not at all able to substitute for cysteine. These results demonstrate that astroglial cells prefer cystine from cysteine for glutathione synthesis and express uptake systems for N-acetylcysteine, 2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid, and cystathionine, as well as the enzymes N-deacetylase, 5-oxoprolinase, and cystathionine gamma-lyase.
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PMID:Utilization of cysteine and cysteine precursors for the synthesis of glutathione in astroglial cultures: preference for cystine. 943 84

In studying the regulation of GSH11, the structural gene of the high-affinity glutathione transporter (GSH-P1) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a cis-acting cysteine responsive element, CCGCCACAC (CCG motif), was detected. Like GSH-P1, the cystathionine gamma-lyase encoded by CYS3 is induced by sulfur starvation and repressed by addition of cysteine to the growth medium. We detected a CCG motif (-311 to -303) and a CGC motif (CGCCACAC; -193 to -186), which is one base shorter than the CCG motif, in the 5'-upstream region of CYS3. One copy of the centromere determining element 1, CDE1 (TCACGTGA; -217 to -210), being responsible for regulation of the sulfate assimilation pathway genes, was also detected. We tested the roles of these three elements in the regulation of CYS3. Using a lacZ-reporter assay system, we found that the CCG/CGC motif is required for activation of CYS3, as well as for its repression by cysteine. In contrast, the CDE1 motif was responsible for only activation of CYS3. We also found that two transcription factors, Met4 and VDE, are responsible for activation of CYS3 through the CCG/CGC and CDE1 motifs. These observations suggest a dual regulation of CYS3 by factors that interact with the CDE1 motif and the CCG/CGC motifs.
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PMID:Transcriptional regulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CYS3 encoding cystathionine gamma-lyase. 1831 67

Homocysteine is an intermediate in methionine synthesis in Aspergillus nidulans, but it can also be converted to cysteine by the reverse transsulfuration pathway involving cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS) and cystathionine gamma-lyase (CGL). Because homocysteine is toxic to the cell at high concentrations, this pathway also functions as a means of removal of its excess. We found that the transcription of the mecA and mecB genes encoding CBS and CGL was upregulated by excess of homocysteine as well as by shortage of cysteine. Homocysteine induced transcription of both genes when added to the growth medium or overproduced in a regulatory mutant. The derepressing effect of cysteine shortage was observed in some mutants and in the wild-type strain during sulfur starvation. An increase in the level of mecA or mecB transcript roughly parallel with the elevation of the respective enzyme activity. On the basis of the mode of mecA and mecB regulation by homocysteine, these genes may be classified in a group of genes upregulated directly or indirectly by this amino acid. We call this group of genes the "homocysteine regulon".
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PMID:Aspergillus nidulans genes encoding reverse transsulfuration enzymes belong to homocysteine regulon. 1968 45