10-Formyltetrahydrofolate (10-CHO-THF)

10-Formyltetrahydrofolate (10-CHO-THF) is form of tetrahydrofolate that acts as a donor of formyl groups in anabolism. In these reactions 10-CHO-THF is used as a substrate in formyltransferase reactions. This is important in purine biosynthesis, where 10-CHO-THF is a substrate for phosphoribosylaminoimidazolecarboxamide formyltransferase, as well as in the formylation of the methionyl initiator tRNA (fMet-tRNA), when 10-CHO-THF is a substrate for methionyl-tRNA formyltransferase. The effect of the inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase by methotrexate on the cellular folates involved in de novo purine and thymidylate biosynthesis has been measured in H35 hepatoma cells grown in 4 microM folic acid or 20 nM folinic acid. The major cellular folate species in cells from medium with folate or folinate is 10-formyltetrahydrofolate (approximately 5 microM), with lesser amounts of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate and tetrahydrofolate.