A mitomycin-N6-deoxyadenosine adduct isolated from DNA.

A minor N6-deoxyadenosine adduct of mitomycin C (MC) was isolated from synthetic oligonucleotides and calf thymus DNA, representing the first adduct of MC and a DNA base other than guanine. The structure of the adduct (8) was elucidated using submilligram quantities of total available material. UV difference spectroscopy, circular dichroism, and electrospray mass spectroscopy as well as chemical transformations were utilized in deriving the structure of 8. A series of synthetic oligonucleotides was designed to probe the specificities of the alkylation of adenine by MC. The nature and frequency of the oligonucleotide-MC adducts formed under conditions of reductive activation of MC were determined by their enzymatic digestion to the nucleoside level followed by quantitative analysis of the products by HPLC. The analyses indicated the following: (i) (A)n sequence is favored over (AT)n for adduct formation; (ii) the alkylation favors the duplex structure; (iii) at adenine sites only monofunctional alkylation occurs; (iv) the adenine-to-alkylation frequency in the model oligonucleotides was 0.3-0.6 relative to guanine alkylation at the 5'-ApG sequence but only 0.02-0.1 relative to guanine alkylation at 5'-CpG. The 5'-phosphodiester linkage of the MC-adenine adduct is resistant to snake venom diesterase. The overall ratio of adenine to guanine alkylation in calf thymus DNA was 0.03, indicating that 8 is a minor MC-DNA adduct relative to MC-DNA adducts at guanine residues in the present experimental residues in the present experimental system. However, the HPLC elution time of 8 coincides with that of a major, unknown MC adduct detected previously in mouse mammary tumor cells treated with radiolabeled MC [Bizanek, R., Chowdary, D., Arai, H., Kasai, M., Hughes, C. S., Sartorelli, A. C., Rockwell, S., and Tomasz, M. (1993) Cancer Res. 53, 5127-5134]. Thus, 8 may be identical or closely related to this major adduct formed in vivo. This possibility can now be tested by further comparison.