Mutagenicity of Intermediates Produced in the Early Stage of the Browning Reaction of Triose Reductone with Nucleic Acid Related Compounds on Bacterial Tests

Two types of reductive intermediates, linear and tricyclic forms, isolated from browning mixtures of triose reductone (TR) with guanine and its derivatives showed evident mutagenicity on Salmonella typhimurium TA 100 without S-9 mixture. The linear intermediates, N²-(3-oxo-2-hydroxypropenyl) compounds of guanine, guanosine, 2′(3′)-guanylic acid and 5′-guanylic acid were more effective than the tricyclic one, l, N²-(2-hydroxypropenylidene)guanine, though they were far less active than 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide. No acceleration in mutagenicity was observed with Cu^{2 +} and other metal ions. The reaction mixtures of TR and nucleic acid bases were also mutagenic on TA 100. Intermediates of TR with guanine and its derivatives did not have a lethal effect in Recassays with Bacillus subtilis.