Researchers in Cynthia Burrows' laboratory at the University of Utah have found that 8-oxoguanosine (8-oxoG), a simple derivative of guanosine, has properties similar to those of riboflavin, an essential vitamin that plays a role in metabolism and in DNA repair. Specifically, the Burrows lab found that 8-oxoG can repair photochemical damage in DNA upon blue light absorption in a manner similar to photolyases, enzymes that contain flavin adenine dinucleotide as a required, light-harvesting co-factor (A co-factor is a non-protein chemical compound required for the protein's biological activity).

The similarity between the properties of 8-oxoG and those of riboflavin suggests that the present-day vitamin riboflavin may have evolved chemically from an oxidized DNA/RNA base, linking DNA repair with the prebiotic chemistry of life. Understanding how life emerged on Earth is one of the most intriguing questions facing science.  By showing that a product of DNA damage has properties similar to those of vitamin B2, the Burrows' lab establishes a product of DNA repair as a possible evolutionary step towards enzyme cofactors that exist today.