Guanine
deaminase (GDA) deaminates guanine to xanthine. Despite
its significance, the study of human GDA remains limited compared
to other metabolic deaminases. As a result, its substrate and inhibitor
repertoire are limited, and effective real-time activity, inhibitory,
and discovery assays are missing. Herein, we explore two emissive
heterocyclic cores, based on thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine
(
thN) and isothiazole[4,3-d]pyrimidine (
tzN), as surrogate GDA substrates.
We demonstrate that, unlike the thieno analog,
thG
N
, the isothiazolo guanine surrogate,
tzG
N
, does undergo
effective enzymatic deamination by GDA and yields the spectroscopically
distinct xanthine analog,
tzX
N
. Further, we showcase the potential of this fluorescent
nucleobase surrogate to provide a visible spectral window for a real-time
study of GDA and its inhibition.