Naturally Occurring Mutagens?

[Mr.Magnetichead]

What are the most commonly occurring biological mutagens in the natural enviroment?

[werldhed]

If by "natural" you mean ones we're likely to encounter... Probably radiation is the most common.

[werldhed]

Viruses, too.

[Mr.Magnetichead]

If by "natural" you mean ones we're likely to encounter... Probably radiation is the most common.

Naturally occuring systems and substances.

[tnf]

ya. radiation.

[werldhed]

Sorry, I misworded that. I meant to say "common" instead of natural. For example, there are a lot of toxins in mushrooms that are common, but we're not likely to encounter them. So I guess I wouldn't call them "common."

[Mr.Magnetichead]

But are they mutagens?

[werldhed]

Yeah. There are also a number of other foods that have mutagens, depending on how they're cooked. I don't know specifics, though.

[Canis]

UV. Beyond that I'd figure virii, of which some directly screw with DNA. Most naturally occuring mutagens beyond this are mutagenic when concentrated, so how "natural" this is is questionable.

[tnf]

thymine dimerization.

[tnf]

Ames test.

[Canis]

Materials from burning substances, free radicals, asbestos...

[[xeno]Julios]

archangels.

Call them ID goblins - tiny creatures that carry out god's will by moving around nucleic acids at key points in history.

[Underpants?]

commonly ingested but not commonly known, the "burnt" skins of meats cooked on the standard propane grill contains a carcinogenic substance derived from the charring itself. Can't find any recent articles on it, but from what i remember, it's a bad mother fucker.

[Underpants?]

btw mutagens are not always linked with bad shit happening, such as cancer... it's the carcinogens which are teh death.
ohey here we go
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:THg ... gens&hl=en
"In the 1970s, Nagao and coworkers (7) found a mutagen that appeared on the charred surface of cooked food that could not be accounted for by PAHs. This mutagenicity resulted from compounds known as heterocyclic amines (HAs) formed during the heating of amino acids and proteins including glutamic acid, phe-nylalanine, ornithine and soybean globulin. HAs can be divided into IQ (derivatives of quino-line) and non-IQ types. They exhibit a wide range of potencies, and the presence of specific chemical struc-tures are required for high mutagenic activity [Fig. 2]. The formation of HAs is not limited to any particulartype of muscle food (meat, poultry, fish), but rather, mostif not all proteinaceous foods will form some of these mutagens upon heating (5).Four HAs (IQ, MeIQx, 4,8-DiMeIQx, PhIP) contribute approximately 80% of the mutagenic activity asdetermined by a laboratory assay (8). Of these 4 com-pounds, PhIP comprises approximately 83-93% of thecombined mass and is the most abundant HA in broiledmeat, chicken and fish. Representative levels are 0.56to 69.2 ng/g cooked food. The level of MeIQx is sec-ond highest at 0.64 to 6.44 ng/g cooked food (9). [Table1]The most common type found in foods are nitrosamines,which have been detected in the low g/kg range infoods including nitrite-cured meats, beer, fish, and driedproducts. Nitrite imparts at least three desirable prop-erties to meats in which it is added: first, it inhibits C.botulinumtoxin which can be lethal; second, it en-hances the flavor (or retards its degradation) of curedmeats; and third, it fixes the red-to-pink color (5).Nitrites are used in products such as bacon, butthe amount of nitrosamines in fried bacon has declinedover the last 10 to 15 years. USDA closely regulatesthe amount of nitrate and nitrite that can be added to meats..."
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