Effect of 8-Azaguanine on the Specificity of Antigens synthesized by E. coli B/r₂

Abstract

ROBLIN et al. synthesized azapurine analogues of naturally occurring purines and showed their ability to inhibit the growth of E. coli and S. aureus¹. Since then many investigators have utilized analogues of purines and pyrimidines in studies of cell metabolism and protein biosynthesis^2–7. The purpose for our initiating an investigation of the effects of purine analogues on growing cells was to explore the possibility of using such analogues to induce metabolic errors in the biosynthesis of protein antigens that would result in immunologically altered proteins. It was anticipated that this work would also contribute to our knowledge of protein biosynthesis because immunochemical methods are particularly well suited for differentiating even closely related substances on the basis of their immunological specificities.