title: Lack of strand bias in UV-induced mutagenesis in Escherichia coli.
abstract: We have investigated whether UV-induced mutations are created with equal efficiency on the leading and lagging strands of DNA replication. We employed an assay system that permits measurement of mutagenesis in the lacZ gene in pairs of near-identical strains. Within each pair, the strains differ only in the orientation of the lacZ gene with respect to the origin of DNA replication. Depending on this orientation, any lacZ target sequence will be replicated in one orientation as a leading strand and as a lagging strand in the other orientation. In contrast to previous results obtained for mutations resulting from spontaneous replication errors or mutations resulting from the spontaneous SOS mutator effect, measurements of UV-induced mutagenesis in uvrA strains fail to show significant differences between the two target orientations. These data suggest that SOS-mediated mutagenic translesion synthesis on the Escherichia coli chromosome may occur with equal or similar probability on leading and lagging strands.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02 106 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Damian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gawel
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maliszewska-Tkaczyk
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jonczyk
authors.forename: Roel M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Schaaper
authors.forename: Iwona J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Fijalkowska
mesh_terms: D004261:DNA Replication / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000528:radiation effects; D007763:Lac Operon / Q000528:radiation effects; D016296:Mutagenesis / Q000528:radiation effects; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays