Changes in Purine Metabolism During Differentiation of Dopamine Neurons from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Purines are a class of ubiquitous molecules required for fundamental processes in all cells. Purines are derived from two major sources: de novo synthesis, and salvage of preformed purine bases. The current studies provide evidence that the relative contributions of these two pathways change substantially as human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) differentiate into neurons. Expression of all genes in the de novo synthesis pathway decreases as pluripotent cells differentiate into neurons, but expression of the salvage pathway gene HPRT1 increases.