The "small molecule" appears to be involved in nutrient-dependent RNA-mediated DNA repair in the context of amino acid substitutions that are fixed in organized genomes via the physiology of reproduction in all living genera. It is a precursor of the catecholaminergic neurotoxin, 6-hydroxydopamine, which is converted to 6-hydroxydopamine by L-aromatic amino acid decarboxylase.

Aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency is an inherited disorder that affects the way signals are passed between certain cells in the nervous system.

Precision medicine links metabolic networks to genetic networks via RNA-mediated amino acid substitutions. The substitutions link nutritional epigenetics to pharmacogenomics and plant-derived phenolics to the modulation of of DNA methylation, intracellular signaling networks and chromatin structure, which link the microRNA / messenger RNA balance to cell type differentiation in species from microbes to humans.