A few weeks ago I posted about the publication of our paper regarding the
possible mechanism of formation of a powerful anti-aging compound kinetin.
Now we have provided evidence for that hypothesis by showing the presence
of kinetin's precursor.
Here I post the abstract from:
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (BBRC) vol. 238; pp.
317-319, 1997.
Furfural, a Precursor of the Cytokinin Hormone Kinetin, and Base Propenals
are Formed by Hydroxyl Radical Damage of DNA
Jan Barciszewski*, Gunhild E. Siboska, Bent O. Pedersen**, Brian F.C. Clark
and Suresh I.S. Rattan1
Department of Molecular and Structural Biology, and **Department of
Chemistry, University of Aarhus, Denmark; and *Institute of Bioorganic
Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland
ABSTRACT
Recently, we have detected kinetin (N6-furfuryladenine), a well known
cytokinin plant hormone, in commercially available DNA, in freshly
extracted cellular DNA and in plant cell extracts. We had suggested that
the furfuryl moiety of kinetin originates from furfural which is one of the
primary oxidation products of deoxyribose in DNA. Here we show that the
human cell extracts treated with O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)
hydroxylamine (PFBHA) give rise to oxime derivatives of various aldehydes
present in the cell. Mass spectrometric analysis of silylated oximes showed
several mass signals of different species, one of which was identified as
furfural. Furthermore, detailed inspection of the mass spectra of DNA
showed the mass signals of 165, 180, 189 and 206 m/z which correspond to
cytosine-propenal, thymine-propenal, adenine-propenal and guanine-propenal,
respectively. The presence of furfural, along with four base-propenals in
the cell extract, as the primary oxidation products of deoxyribose,
suggests that degradation of sugar residues in DNA is one of the major
routes of cellular damage in addition to the modification of nucleic acid
bases.
____________________________________________________
Dr. Suresh I. S. Rattan, PhD; DSc
Laboratory of Cellular Ageing
I.M.S.B.
University of Aarhus
Forskerparken
DK-8000 Aarhus - C
Denmark
Tlf: +45 89 42 50 34 Fax: +45 86 20 12 22
