title: Heteroduplex-induced mutagenesis in mammalian cells.
abstract: We have shown previously that heteroduplexes containing single-stranded loops are repaired efficiently in monkey cells, but not always correctly: 2% of the repair products acquired mutations within a 350 base-pair target (Weiss, U. and Wilson, J.H., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:1123-1126, 1987). The structures of the mutant genomes, which are described here, are consistent with an error-prone repair system. The spectrum of mutations includes about 25% point mutations and 75% rearrangements, which consist of deletions, duplications, and substitutions. The mutations are clustered in the vicinity of single-stranded loops in the original heteroduplex. The high frequency of mutation, their clustering, and the positions of rearrangement endpoints suggest that the mutations were generated during repair of the heteroduplexes.
authors.affiliation: Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004260:DNA Repair; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D013539:Simian virus 40 / Q000235:genetics*; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral