In vitro replication of mutagen-damaged DNA: sites of termination

We have examined the effect of DNA lesions, which in vivo are potentially mutagenic, on in vitro DNA synthesis carried out by a number of purified DNA polymerases using a 0X174 template. Both acetyl aminofluorene (AAF) adducts and UV-induced pyrimidine dimers are blocks to elongation by DNA polymerases. On UV-irradiated DNA templates synthesis terminates one nucleotide before the sites of pyrimidine dimers with all of the enzymes tested: Pol I and Pol III holoenzyme from Escherichia coli, T4 DNA polymerase, avian myeloblastosis virus reverse transcriptase and a mammalian DNA polymerase alpha. With AAF, which reacts at the C-8 position of guanine, differences are observed between the above enzymes, with the latter two inserting a nucleotide opposite the site of the lesion. Substitution of Mn2+ for Mg2+ as the cation in the Pol I reactions causes changes in the termination pattern on both UV-irradiated and AAF-reacted templates. The significance of these results to the process of inducible error-prone repair and the possible bypass of lesions in the DNA is discussed.