title: Mutation frequency decline revisited.
abstract: 'Mutation frequency decline' (MFD) was discovered about forty years ago, and described as the disappearance of a particular class of ultraviolet light-induced mutations in Escherichia coli that occurred whenever protein synthesis was briefly inhibited immediately after irradiation. Later, MFD was interpreted as an excision repair anomaly uniquely affecting nonsense suppressor mutations induced in certain tRNA genes. Never fully understood, MFD has recently been linked to the newly discovered transcription-coupled rapid repair of ultraviolet damage on the template strand of active genes. This article recalls the emergence and development of the MFD story, and offers a new way to explain it and its relation to strand-specific excision repair.
authors.affiliation: Waksman Institute, Rutgers State University of New Jersey, Piscataway 08855-0759.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Witkin
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004260:DNA Repair; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000528:radiation effects; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000528:radiation effects; D016153:Genes, Suppressor; D049673:History, 20th Century; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000266:history*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009154:Mutation / Q000187:drug effects; D011500:Protein Synthesis Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012351:RNA, Transfer, Gln / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D011500:Protein Synthesis Inhibitors; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012351:RNA, Transfer, Gln; D014157:Transcription Factors; C072103:transcription repair coupling factor protein, Bacteria