| pubmed-article:6200113 | pubmed:abstractText | The results reported in this paper describe the effects produced by the antibiotic Coumermycin A1 (CA1) on survival and metabolism of chick embryo fibroblast cells (CEF), and give a clue to the understanding of its toxicity. The drug acts primarily at the level of DNA and RNA synthetic enzymes; no effect on DNA superstructure is detectable at doses at which cytotoxicity is pronounced. A spectroscopic approach produced evidence that CA1 binds to DNA, RNA, chromatin components such as histones and to a structurally unrelated protein such as bovine serum albumin. Furthermore, CA1 behaves like a pure non-competitive inhibitor of lactic dehydrogenase, a ubiquitous enzyme not involved in nucleic acid metabolism. The interaction of CA1 with a wide range of macromolecules playing different biological roles is certainly relevant to its activity and adds a new insight into the mechanism of action of this antibiotic. These observations are also discussed in the light of the alleged role of CA1 as a specific inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase in eukaryotic cells. | lld:pubmed |
