Isotope effects in fully deuterated hexoses, proteins and nucleic acids
!)ince 1he report in 1960 of the first successful culture of algae in 99·7 per cent D20, a wide variety of deuterium isotope effects, involving fully deuterated organisms and compounds derived from them by biosynthesis, ha·1e been studied at the Argonne National Laboratory. The large·scale cultivation of a variety of green and blue-green algae2 made possible the grc•wth of fully deuterated heterotrophic organisms3-5 by making fully deuterated carbon sources and media practicable. It has thus been possible to 5tudy not only th~ effect of deuterium on intact organisms, but to isolate in a purified state individual, fully deuterated compounds of biological importance. Such compounds have proved to be of considerable utility in the stu.dy ofreaction rates and chemical structure6-lO. It is the purpose of this com1nunication to (i) discuss our most recent work on the cultivation of micro-organisms in D20; (ii) to present data on the effect ofnon-exchangeah.e deuterium on the stability of proteins and nucleic acids; and (iii) to de~:cribe deuterium isotope effects in the metabolism of fully deuterated glucose and mannose by ascites tumour cells. The isotope effects described he:~e arestill in an initial phase of study, but do serve to illustrate the variety of new phenomena now accessible to study.