Species Difference in Pyridine Nucleotide Synthesis by Erythrocytes

Leder and Handler 1 have described the synthesis of pyridine nucleotide from nicotinamide and glucose by human erythrocyte homolysates in amounts as much as ten times the normal content and they identified the synthesized material as nicotinamide mononucleotide. These authors also suggested that fructose diphosphate and adenosine triphosphate were required for optimal synthesis of nicotinamide mononucleotide. While synthesis of pyridine nucleotide is thus known to occur in vitro by washed human erythrocytes, its presence and its synthesis in other mammalian species have not yet been examined.