Mutagenic Activity of the Maillard Reaction Products of Ribose with Different Amino Acids

Mutagenic activity of Maillard browning products from ribose-lysine and glucose-lysine mixtures, heated at l00°C, was evaluated with the Salmonella assay. For both mixtures optimal conditions for producing mutagenic derivatives were observed at equimolar concentrations of reactants. Ribose-lysine browning products showed a higher mutagenic activity than the glucose-lysine mixture and were more active in inducing gene conversion and mitotic crossing-over in Sacccharo-rnyces cerevisae. The higher mutagenic activity of the browning products of ribose was also demonstrated with several amino acids: alanine, aspargine, aspartic acid, cysteine, cystine, leucine, methionine, phen-ylalanine, proline, hydroxyproline, serine, valine. A DNA-damaging activity of the browning mixtures of ribose with histidine, proline, hydroxyproline, valine, was also detected in the Bacillus subtilis rec-assay.