Enhancement by cysteinyl thiols of acetyltransferase-mediated, but not of sulfotransferase-mediated, binding of a pyrolysate-derived N-hydroxyarylamine, 2-hydroxyamino-6-methyldipyrido[1,2-a:3',2'-d]imidazole, to DNA

Structure-mutagenicity relationships of four amino-imidazonaphthyridines and imidazoquinolines

We tested four isomeric imidazonaphthyridines and one imidazoquinoline compound for mutagenic activity in the Ames/Salmonella mutagenicity assay, using strain TA98 and strain YG1024, an analogue of strain TA98 with elevated O-acetyltransferase levels. Their potency was related to calculated electronic parameters. Five compounds with a linear arrangement of 3 rings showed a positive response in strain YG1024. Compound 2 (1-methylimidazo[4,5-b][1,7]naphthyridin-2-amine) is the most mutagenic in both strains, giving specific activities of about 200 and 30 revertants per microgram in strains YG1024 and TA98, respectively. Three of the compounds were weak mutagens, giving a positive dose-response only in strain YG1024, with 3-5 revertants per microgram. A higher response of all five compounds in strain YG1024 as opposed to TA98 indicates that they require O-acetyltransferase activity for their metabolism. Mutagenic potencies in strain YG1024 were positively correlated to the energy of the LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) of the nitrenium ion.

N-hydroxyarylamine O-acetyltransferase of Salmonella typhimurium: proposal for a common catalytic mechanism of arylamine acetyltransferase enzymes

Acetyl-CoA:N-hydroxyarylamine O-acetyltransferase is an enzyme involved in the metabolic activation of N-hydroxyarylamines derived from mutagenic and carcinogenic aromatic amines and nitroarenes. The O-acetyltransferase gene of Salmonella typhimurium has been cloned, and new Ames tester substrains highly sensitive to mutagenic aromatic amines and nitroarenes have been established in our laboratory. The nucleotide sequence of the O-acetyltransferase gene was determined. There was an open reading frame of 843 nucleotides coding for a protein with a calculated molecular weight of 32,177, which was close to the molecular weight of the O-acetyltransferase protein determined by using the maxicell technique. Only the residue of Cys69 in O-acetyltransferase of S. typhimurium and its corresponding residue (Cys68) in N-acetyltransferase of higher organisms were conserved in all acetyltransferase enzymes sequenced so far. The amino acid sequence Arg-Gly-Gly-X-Cys, including the Cys69, was highly conserved. A mutant O-acetyltransferase of S. typhimurium, which contained Ala69 instead of Cys69, no longer showed the activities of O- and N-acetyltransferase. These results suggest that the Cys69 of S. typhimurium and the corresponding cysteine residues of the higher organisms are essential for the enzyme activities as an acetyl-CoA binding site. We propose a new catalytic model of acetyltransferase for S. typhimurium and the higher organisms.

Mutagenic activity of three synthetic isomers of the food carcinogen 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) in the Ames test

The mutagenic activities of three isomers of IQ, with the pyridine N-atom at different positions, were measured in the Ames test with Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and enzymatic activation (S9). All test compounds showed lower activities than IQ. Interestingly, the amount of protein in the S9 mix does not seem to influence the mutagenic activity of the '8-IQ' isomer.

Mutagenic activity of the methyl and phenyl derivatives of the food mutagen 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (IQx) in the Ames test

The mutagenic activity of 15 different mono-, di-, tri-, and tetramethyl derivatives of the food mutagen IQx (2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline), one diphenyl derivative of IQx and two phenyl derivatives of 5-MeIQx (2-amino-3,5-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline) were studied in the Ames test with Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and enzymatic activation (S9). The number and positioning of the methyl groups strongly affected the mutagenic activity. The phenylated compounds showed weak mutagenic potency. It seems that both resonance stabilization of the nitrenium ion and steric effects are important in determining mutagenic potency.

An arylamine acetyltransferase (AT-I) from Syrian golden hamster liver: cloning, complete nucleotide sequence, and expression in mammalian cells

A cDNA clone (designated hamAT101) encoding an arylamine acetyltransferase, AT-1, was isolated from a hamster liver lambda gt11 cDNA library using a specific polyclonal antibody raised against AT-1. The cloned cDNA insert consisted of 1181 nucleotides, including an open reading frame of 870 nucleotides encoding 290 amino acid (Mr 33,503). The isolated cDNA displayed high sequence similarity to those of chicken, rabbit, and human acetyltransferases. In Northern blots, the hamAT101 cDNA probe hybridized to an RNA band of 18S in the livers of both slow and rapid acetylator phenotypes. To confirm that hamAT101 cDNA encodes the monomorphic but not the polymorphic protein, the isolated cDNA was expressed in monkey kidney cells (COS-1 cells) using the vector p91023(B). A protein with a molecular weight similar to that of AT-1 was detected upon Western blotting in the 9000 x g supernatant from the transfected cells. The activity toward four different substrates of the 9000 x g supernatant was also examined. In agreement with the results of purified AT-1, the cDNA-expressed protein exhibited a high capacity for N-acetylation of 4-aminoazobenzene and 2-aminofluorene, and O-acetylation of 2-hydroxyamino-6-methyldipyrido [1,2-a:3',2'-d] imidazole, whereas no activity was found for the N-acetylation of p-aminobenzoic acid. These results, in addition to the RNA blot hybridization, indicate that hamAT101 encodes the hamster acetyltransferase AT-1.