[P1, P3-(5'-guanosyl-5''-[14C]adenosyl)triphosphate: preparation of the cap parent compound and its catabolic properties towards rat liver subcellular fractions (author's transl)].

We report on the chemical preparation of 14C-labeled P1, P3-(5'-guanosyl-5''-adenosyl)triphosphate (1) which is the parent compound of 5'-terminal cap structures of most eukaryotic mRNAs. Incubation experiments of cap (1)- and non cap-structured nucleotides as Ap2A (2) as well as their ribose ring opened derivatives (3, 4) with rat liver subcellular fractions show that cap-degrading nucleases being able to unblock 5' termini are present in nuclei but not in mitochondria.