During the last few years, we have reported the anti-ageing effects of a
plant hormone kinetin on human cells and on Drosophila. As regards kinetin
itself, it has been believed that this compound does not exist naturally
and is formed only as an artifact of DNA mis-handling. We have now found
out that kinetin does exist in nature, and that it may be a kind of natural
defense molecules against oxidative damage. Here is the abstract of our
recently published paper:
Abstract:
In contrast to the current view that kinetin (N6-furfuryladenine) is an
unnatural and synthetic compound, we have detected it in commercially
available DNA, in freshly extracted cellular DNA from human cells and in
plant cell extracts by two independent methods. First, we discovered that
N6-furfuryladenine has electrochemical properties that can be applied for
monitoring this modified base by HPLC/UV/EC method. Second, we have
confirmed electrochemical assignments by mass-spectrometric analysis. A
pathway of kinetin formation is proposed in which the formation of furfural
by oxidative damage of the deoxyribose moiety of DNA is followed by its
reaction with adenine residues to form N6-furfuryladenine. Since this
modification can lead to mutations, the odd DNA base has to be removed by
repair enzymes.
complete reference:
Evidence for the presence of kinetin in DNA and cell extracts
Jan Barciszewski, Gunhild E. Siboska, Bent O. Pedersen,
Brian F.C. Clark and Suresh I.S. Rattan
FEBS Letters, 393: 197-200, 1996 (the latest issue).
Dr. Suresh I.S. Rattan, PhD; DSc
Laboratory of Cellular Ageing
Department of Chemistry
Aarhus University
DK-8000 Aarhus-C,
Denmark.
(Phone: +45 8942 3956; Fax: +45 8619 6199)
