[2][3][4] The term was first publicised by Rudolph Peters in his Croonian Lecture of 1951.
[5][3][6] A 1971 study published by the Harvard Medical School identified methylglyoxal, a form of glycerol, as a product of lethal synthesis in a specific E.coli mutant.
[4] The study demonstrated that, in E.coli mutants that had lost both control mechanisms, glycerol kinase no longer reacted to feedback regulation and instead produced the cytotoxic methylglyoxal.
[4] A more recent review of research done on methylglyoxal metabolism concluded that the compound's cytotoxic nature is dependent on its ability to form advanced glycation end products (AGEs).
[7] These compounds, which are thought to be factors in ageing and in the progression of degenerative diseases, have been shown to hinder the functions of the proteins they target.