Summary
Eight compounds can be added to those purine analogs which give synergistic effects with ultraviolet light: 1,3,7,9-tetra-methylxanthine methyl sulfate, 8-chlorocaffeine, ethyltheophylline, 6-dimethylaminopurine, 6-methoxypurine, 8-ethoxycaffeine, 1,3-dimethyl uric acid and 3-methyl uric acid. It appears likely that these are merely representatives of the class of methyl purines, and that other compounds are also active. The synergistic activity varies among the compounds investigated; some give a synergistic effect slightly higher than caffeine, but apparently act by the same mechanism. The height of effect of all of the synergistic purine analogs has been correlated with the stability of the structures determined by inductive effects and steric hindrance. The lack of activity with pyrimidines (l-methyl thymine and 1,3-dimethyluracil) leads to the conclusion that both rings (7,8,9 positions) of the purine molecule are necessary for the synergistic effect.
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Communicated byCh. Auerbach
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Research Grant AI-05340, the University of Kansas General Research Fund, and an N.I.H. Training Grant (5 T1 GM-703) to the Department of Microbiology.
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Sideropoulos, A.S., Lumb, J.R. & Shankel, D.M. The influence of analogs of xanthine on the mutagenic effect of ultraviolet light. Molec. Gen. Genet. 102, 102–107 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01789136
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01789136