Capacity of virulent Treponema pallidum (Nichols) for deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis

Abstract

T. pallidum (Nichols) was extracted from infected rabbit tissue and cell lysates were prepared for monitoring thymidine kinase and DNA polymerase activities. No thymidine kinase was demonstrated in preparations of T. pallidum or the cultivable T. phagedenis biotype Reiter. Significant levels of DNA polymerase were detected in both treponemal samples. Comparisons of polymerase activity among a spectrum of bacteria general revealed a direct correlation between enzyme concentrations and estimated generation time. Incorporation of [3H]uridine and [3H]thymidine into macromolecules by intact T. pallidum and the Reiter treponeme was examined. Selective RNase-DNase R digestion and CsCl gradient banding demonstrated that T. pallidum independent of the host and T. phagedenis synthesized DNA only from the [3H]-uridine precursor.