144 MUTATION AND PLANT BREEDING 



by L. C. Maillard in 1912, and subsequently known as the Maillard 

 reaction (or the browning reaction in food chemistry). It is of interest 

 that the reaction proceeds at measurable rates in the temperature range 

 to which living matter is normally subjected; secondly, that the reac- 

 tive groups are not only present in DNA, but present in juxtaposition; 

 and thirdly, that the groups involved in the reaction are those that give 

 specificity to the bases of DNA which in turn give specificity to the 

 DNA itself. The juxtaposition of the keto and amino groups in 

 the Watson-Crick model of DNA seems rather unusual in terms 

 of the possibility of a Maillard-type reaction. Perhaps the groups 

 are protected by the very existence of hydrogen-bonding in the double 

 helical arrangement. This I do not know. It is conceivable, however, 

 that the groups would be reactive on rupture of the double helix, either 

 with each other or with keto and amino compounds in the surrounding 

 nuclear plasm of cytoplasm. I wonder if the Maillard reaction could be 

 operating in nature to produce mutation in a manner analogous to 

 that of nitrous acid. Would you care to comment on this? 



Auerbach: I am afraid my knowledge of chemistry is not good enough 

 for an answer to this interesting question. 



