PNNL

Abstract

Despite the importance of water to cell structure and function, intracellular water dynamics are poorly understood. A new method based on isotope ratio measurements has revealed that a substantial portion of the O and H atoms in the intracellular water of rapidly-dividing cultured cells is derived from metabolic activity, and not from environmental water. These findings have led to a dynamic model of intracellular water composition: (1) Intracellular water is composed of water that diffuses in from the extracellular environment and water that is created as a result of metabolic activity. (2) The relative amounts of environmental and metabolic water inside a cell are a function of the cell’s metabolic activity. (3) The oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios of cellular metabolites are a function of those of intracellular water, and therefore reflect the metabolic activity of the cell at the time of biosynthesis. Data from gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as cultured mammalian cells are consistent with the model.