Aflatoxin (AF) B
1 exo-8,9-epoxide hydrolysis yields AFB
1 dihydrodiol, which undergoes base-catalyzed rearrangement to, and is in equilibrium with, AFB
1 dialdehyde. We investigatedthe reaction of AFB
1 dialdehyde with albumin to generate a Lys adduct, previously characterizedby others [Sabbioni, G., Skipper, P. L., Büchi, G., and Tannenbaum, S. R. (1987)
Carcinogenesis8, 819-824; Sabbioni, G. (1990)
Chem.-Biol. Interact. 75, 1-15]. Pronase digestion of bovinealbumin serum treated with AFB
1 dialdehyde and HPLC yielded the adduct, identified by itscharacteristic UV and mass spectra. The structure of the Lys-AFB
1 dialdehyde adduct isconcluded to be (
S)-
![](/images/gifchars/alpha.gif)
-amino-2,3-dihydro-2-oxo-4-(1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-7-hydroxy-9-methoxy-3,4-dioxocyclopenta[
c][1]benzopyran-6-yl)-1
H-pyrrole-1-hexanoic acid, structure
B of the formerpaper and
8 of the latter, based on work with the methylamine adduct described in the followingpaper in this issue [Guengerich, F. P., Voehler, M., Williams, K. M., Deng, Z., and Harris, T.M. (2002)
Chem. Res. Toxicol. 15, 793-798]. The time course of product formation at varyingconcentrations of AFB
1 dialdehyde could be described by complexation with albumin with a
Kd of 1.5 mM and a first-order reaction rate with the N6-amino group of Lys of 0.033 min
-1.The reaction of AFB
1 dialdehyde with
N2-acetylLys was monitored by UV spectroscopy andyielded a final spectrum similar to that of the described Lys adduct. Kinetic analysis of thechanges at pH 7.2 was best described with a scheme involving equilibrium of the dialdehydewith dihydrodiol and a rate-limiting reaction of AFB
1 dialdehyde with the N6 atom of
N2-acetylLys, with an apparent second-order rate constant of 2.6 × 10
3 M
-1 min
-1, followed byputative carbinolamine formation and rearrangement, collectively described by a first-orderrate constant of 7.6 min
-1. Competition experiments with the hydrolysis of AFB
1 exo-8,9-epoxideindicate that
N2-acetylLys also reacts with the epoxide at pH 7.2 (
k = 350 M
-1 min
-1) and 9.5(
k = 1.8 × 10
3 M
-1 min
-1). This reaction might contribute to the formation of protein Lysadducts, depending upon the local concentration of free or protein Lys. Mass spectral analysisof trypsin digests of bovine serum albumin modified with AFB
1 dialdehyde indicated selectivemodification of Lys455 and Lys548. Collectively, these results provide more insight into themechanism of formation of AFB
1 dialdehyde-protein adducts and indicate that the formationof Lys adducts is a moderately efficient process. The binding of AFB
1 dialdehyde to albuminor the protonation of the N6-amino group retards the reaction with Lys residues.