Malondialdehyde and a series of acrolein derivatives substituted in the beta-position with good leaving groups react with guanine and guanine nucleosides to form two different types of adducts. The reaction with guanosine is typical. One adduct exhibits ultraviolet absorbance maxima at 253, 319, and 348 nm and is fluorescent. Its NMR spectrum exhibits three new aromatic proton resonances derived from malondialdehyde. The mass spectrum exhibits an M + 1 at 320. The spectroscopic properties are consistent with the structure, 3-beta-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl-pyrimido[1,2-alpha]purin-10(3H)-one (PyP-ribose). The second guanosine adduct is an equal mixture of diastereomers that exhibit ultraviolet maxima at 217 and 244 nm and mirror image circular dichroism spectra. The NMR spectrum and mass spectrum (M + 1 = 392) indicate the addition of two molecules of MDA to one molecule of guanosine. Two-dimensional NMR (COSY) analysis reveals the presence of propano and enal functionalities. The spectroscopic and chemical properties suggest an oxadiazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonene structure that is confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Comparison of the deoxyguanosine adducts of malondialdehyde to those of the structurally related carbonyl compounds, methyl glyoxal and acrolein, provides a structural basis to explain the unique ability of malondialdehyde to induce frameshift mutations in bacterial mutagenesis systems.

The NarI restriction enzyme recognition site, G1G2CG3CC, has been identified as a hotspot for -2 frameshift mutations induced by N-2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) on the basis of a forward mutation assay in plasmid pBR322 in the bacterium Escherichia coli. AAF binds primarily to the C-8 position of guanine residues, and the three guanines of the NarI site are similarly reactive. Despite this similar chemical reactivity, only binding of AAF to the G3 residue causes the -2 frameshift mutations. To study the mechanisms underlying the specificity of the mutagenic processing further, we monitored the structural changes induced by a single AAF adduct within the NarI site by means of CD spectroscopy and thermal denaturation. The NarI sequence was studied as part of the 12-mer ACCGGCGCCACA. The purification and characterization of the three isomers having a single AAF adduct covalently bound to one of the three guanines of this 12 mer are described. The analysis of the melting profiles of the duplexes formed when these three isomers are annealed with the oligonucleotide of complementary sequence shows the same destabilizing effect of the AAF adduct on the three DNA helices. It is also shown, from the CD spectra, that modification of guanine G1 or G2 by AAF does not induce major changes in the helical structure of DNA. On the other hand, modification of guanine G3 induces a change in the CD signal that suggests the formation of a local left handed structure within the 12-mer duplex. These results show the polymorphic nature of the DNA structure in the vicinity of an AAF adduct.