Possible involvement of queuine in oxidative metabolism

The possibility that the base, queuine, or the queuine family of tRNAs may play a role in oxidative metabolism has been investigated. (i) The enzymatic insertion of queuine into tRNA requires oxygen. This is true for both the mammalian and bacterial enzyme. (ii) (q-) LM cells (murine fibroblast line) grown in culture had 53% less of the manganese-containing superoxide dismutase than (q+) cells. (iii) There was less thiobarbituric-acid-reactive material in queuine-deficient mouse liver and kidney than in (q+) liver and kidney.