Structural characterisation and reactivity of new tetrahedral intermediates based on a highly modular barbituric acid scaffold, formed via chemoselective electron transfer using the SmI2–H2O reagent, are reported. Lewis acid promoted cleavage of bicyclic a-amino alcohols affords vinylogous N-acyliminium ions, which undergo selective (>95 :5, 1,4 over 1,2) capture with a suite of diverse nucleop...

The bifunctional diaminohydroxyphosphoribosylaminopyrimidine deaminase/5-amino-6-(5-phosphoribosylamino)uracil reductase (RibD) represents a potential antibacterial drug target. The structure of recombinant Acinetobacter baumannii RibD is reported in orthorhombic and tetragonal crystal forms at 2.2 and 2.0 Å resolution, respectively. Comparisons with orthologous structures in the Protein Data B...

Two new nikkomycins were isolated from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces tendae Tü 901/PF 53+-3. These new metabolites, nikkomycins pseudo-Z (psi-Z,1) and pseudo-J (psi-J, 2) differ from the corresponding nikkomycins Z and J by a C-glycosidic bond between C-5 of uracil and C-1' of 5-amino-5-deoxy-D-allo-furanuronic acid instead of an N-glycosidic bond. The structure elucidation was achieve...

The prokaryotic DNA(cytosine-5)methyltransferase M.SssI shares the specificity of eukaryotic DNA methyltransferases (CG) and is an important model and experimental tool in the study of eukaryotic DNA methylation. Previously, M.SssI was shown to be able to catalyze deamination of the target cytosine to uracil if the methyl donor S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) was missing from the reaction. To test ...

Base-excision repair and control of nucleotide pools safe-guard against permanent uracil accumulation in DNA relying on two key enzymes: uracil-DNA glycosylase and dUTPase. Lack of the major uracil-DNA glycosylase UNG gene from the fruit fly genome and dUTPase from fruit fly larvae prompted the hypotheses that i) uracil may accumulate in Drosophila genomic DNA where it may be well tolerated, an...

The pig and human dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) cDNAs were cloned and sequenced. The pig enzyme, expressed in Escherichia coli, catalyzed the reduction of uracil, thymine, and 5-fluorouracil with kinetics approximating those published for the enzyme purified from mammalian liver. DPD could be expressed in significant quantities only when uracil was added to the bacterial growth medium. ...

We describe 46 insertions of the Streptococcus faecalis transposon Tn917 into the chromosome of Bacillus subtilis. These insertion mutations were mapped genetically. Some caused auxotrophic requirements, and others were cryptic. These insertions were scattered around the B. subtilis chromosome. The mutant strains were useful in several ways for mapping and cloning B. subtilis genes and were add...

Bacteriophage T5 induces a deoxyuridine B’-triphosphate nucleotidohydrolase (dUTPase) activity during infection of Escherichiu coli. A T5 mutant (T5 dut) unable to induce this dUTPase activity has been isolated. Although this mutant is viable, the E. coli dUTPase activity is not sufficiently active to exclude uracil from the progeny DNA and about 3% of the thymine is replaced by uracil. When th...

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) acts as a sliding clamp on duplex DNA. Its homologs, present in Eukarya and Archaea, are part of protein complexes that are indispensable for DNA replication and DNA repair. In Eukarya, PCNA is known to interact with more than a dozen different proteins, including a human major nuclear uracil-DNA glycosylase (hUNG2) involved in immediate postreplicative...

A discussion of nitrosative deamination of cytosine 1 is presented that argues for the formation of 6 by diazotization of 1 to cytosinediazonium ion 2 and its electrostatic complex 3, dediazoniation to 4 <--> 5, and amide-bond cleavage to 6. The reaction channels available to 6 include hydrolytic deglycation to 3-isocyanatoacrylonitrile 7, water addition to carbamic acid 9 with the possibility ...