Growth inhibition by 1-deoxy-d-allulose, a novel bioactive deoxy sugar, screened using Caenorhabditis elegans assay

Abstract The biological activities of deoxy sugars (deoxy monosaccharides) have remained largely unstudied until recently. We compared the growth inhibition by all 1-deoxyketohexoses using the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans . Among the eight stereoisomers, 1-Deoxy- d -allulose (1d- d -Alu) showed particularly strong growth inhibition. The 50% inhibition of growth (GI 50 ) concentration by 1d- d -Alu was estimated to be 5.4 mM, which is approximately 10 times lower than that of d -allulose (52.7 mM), and even lower than that of the potent glycolytic inhibitor, 2-deoxy- d -glucose (19.5 mM), implying that 1d- d -Alu has a strong growth inhibition. In contrast, 5-deoxy- and 6-deoxy- d -allulose showed no growth inhibition of C. elegans . The inhibition by 1d- d -Alu was alleviated by the addition of D-ribose or d -fructose. Our findings suggest that 1d- d -Alu-mediated growth inhibition could be induced by the imbalance in d -ribose metabolism. To our knowledge, this is the first report of biological activity of 1d- d -Alu which may be considered as an antimetabolite drug candidate.