The discovery of the adventitious formation of the potential cancer-causing agent acrylamide in a variety of foods during cooking has raised much concern, but the chemical mechanism(s) governing its production are unclear. Here we show that acrylamide can be released by the thermal treatment of certain amino acids (asparagine, for example), particularly in combination with reducing sugars, and of early Maillard reaction products (N-glycosides). Our findings indicate that the Maillard-driven generation of flavour and colour in thermally processed foods can -- under particular conditions -- be linked to the formation of acrylamide.

The formation of acrylamide was studied in low-moisture Maillard model systems (180 degrees C, 5 min) based on asparagine, reducing sugars, Maillard intermediates, and sugar degradation products. We show evidence that certain glycoconjugates play a major role in acrylamide formation. The N-glycosyl of asparagine generated about 2.4 mmol/mol acrylamide, compared to 0.1-0.2 mmol/mol obtained with alpha-dicarbonyls and the Amadori compound of asparagine. 3-Hydroxypropanamide, the Strecker alcohol of asparagine, generated only low amounts of acrylamide ( approximately 0.23 mmol/mol), while hydroxyacetone increased the acrylamide yields to more than 4 mmol/mol, indicating that alpha-hydroxy carbonyls are much more efficient than alpha-dicarbonyls in converting asparagine into acrylamide. The experimental results are consistent with the reaction mechanism based on (i) a Strecker type degradation of the Schiff base leading to azomethine ylides, followed by (ii) a beta-elimination reaction of the decarboxylated Amadori compound to afford acrylamide. The beta-position on both sides of the nitrogen atom is crucial. Rearrangement of the azomethine ylide to the decarboxylated Amadori compound is the key step, which is favored if the carbonyl moiety contains a hydroxyl group in beta-position to the nitrogen atom. The beta-elimination step in the amino acid moiety was demonstrated by reacting under low moisture conditions decarboxylated model Amadori compounds obtained by synthesis. The corresponding vinylogous compounds were only generated if a beta-proton was available, for example, styrene from the decarboxylated Amadori compound of phenylalanine. Therefore, it is suggested that this thermal pathway may be common to other amino acids, resulting under certain conditions in their respective vinylogous reaction products.

The MyHits web site (http://myhits.isb-sib.ch) is an integrated service dedicated to the analysis of protein sequences. Since its first description in 2004, both the user interface and the back end of the server were improved. A number of tools (e.g. MAFFT, Jacop, Dotlet, Jalview, ESTScan) were added or updated to improve the usability of the service. The MySQL schema and its associated API were revamped and the database engine (HitKeeper) was separated from the web interface. This paper summarizes the current status of the server, with an emphasis on the new services.

Formation of DNA-protein cross-links involving the initial formation of a guanine radical cation was investigated. For this purpose, riboflavin-mediated photosensitization of a TGT oligonucleotide in aerated aqueous solution in the presence of the KKK tripeptide was performed. We have shown that the nucleophilic addition of the epsilon-amino group of the central lysine residue of KKK to the C8 atom of either the guanine radical cation or its deprotonated form gives rise to the efficient formation of a Nepsilon-(guanin-8-yl)-lysine cross-link. Interestingly, the time course of formation of the above-mentioned cross-link was found to be not linear with the time of irradiation, and its formation rapidly reached a plateau. This is explained by secondary decomposition of the initially generated cross-link which could be further oxidized more efficiently than starting TGT oligonucleotide. One-electron oxidation of the initially generated cross-link was found to produce mainly two diastereomeric cross-links exhibiting a spiroimino-trilysine-dihydantoin structure as inferred from enzymatic digestion, CD, UV, NMR and mass spectrometry measurements. In addition, other minor cross-links, for which formation was favored at acidic pH, were assigned as lysine-guanine adducts in which the modified guanine base exhibits a guanidino-trilysine-iminohydantoin structure. A proposed mechanism for the formation of the different detected oligonucleotide-peptide cross-links is given. The high yield of formation of the detected cross-links strongly suggests that a DNA-protein cross-link involving a lysine residue linked to the C8 position of guanine could be generated in cellular systems if a lysine is located in the close vicinity of a guanine radical cation.