The effect of 3-deazauridine on the synthesis of uracil nucleotides by de novo and salvage pathways was investigated in intact cultured L1210 cells. De novo pyrimidine biosynthesis, as measured by sodium [14C]bicarbonate incorporation into uracil nucleotides, was inhibited 40-85% at intracellular 3-deazauracil nucleotide concentrations of 1-6 nmoles/10(6) cells. The inhibition was not due to an increase in the size of the uracil nucleotide pool since this pool was only 97-66% of control level at 3-deazauracil nucleotide concentrations of 1-6 nmoles/10(6) cells. Furthermore, intracellular 3-deazauracil nucleotide concentrations of 0.5 to 5.2 nmoles/10(6) cells inhibited the salvage of [14C]uridine by 25-75%. The data indicate that 3-deazauridine may potentiate its own inhibition of CTP synthetase by reducing the concentration of competing uracil nucleotides by inhibiting de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis and pyrimidine salvage. It is postulated that the biochemical mechanism by which 3-deazauridine inhibits uracil nucleotide synthesis is by acting as a fraudulent allosteric regulator of carbamyl phosphate synthetase II and uridine/cytidine kinase.