title: Interactions among the Escherichia coli mutT, mutM, and mutY damage prevention pathways.
abstract: We have investigated in detail the interactions between the Escherichia coli mutT, mutM, and mutY error-prevention systems. Jointly, these systems protect the cell against the effects of the oxidative stress product, 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG), a base analog with ambiguous base-pairing properties, pairing with either A or C during DNA synthesis. mutT mutator strains display a specific increase in A.T-->C.G transversions, while mutM and mutY mutator strains show specific G.C-->T.A increases. To study in more detail the in vivo processing of the various mutational intermediates leading to A.T-->C.G and G.C-->T.A transversions, we analyzed defined A.T-->C.G and G.C-->T.A events in strains containing all possible combinations of these mutator alleles. We report three major findings. First, we do not find evidence that the mutT allele significantly increases G.C-->T.A transversions in either mut(+), mutM, mutY or mutMmutY backgrounds. We interpret this result to indicate that incorporation of 8-oxodGTP opposite template C may not be frequent relative to incorporation opposite template A. Second, we show that mutT-induced A.T-->C.G transversions are significantly reduced in strains carrying mutY and mutMmutY deficiencies suggesting that 8-oxoG, when present in DNA, preferentially mispairs with dATP. Third, the mutY and mutMmutY deficiencies also decrease A.T-->C.G transversions in the mutT(+) background, suggesting that, even in the presence of functional MutT protein, A.T-->C.G transversions may still result from 8-oxodGTP misincorporation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA. rfowler@email.sjsu.edu
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Sean C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Ronnie L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: Roel M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Schaaper
mesh_terms: D045647:DNA Glycosylases; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D043382:DNA-Formamidopyrimidine Glycosylase; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007763:Lac Operon / Q000235:genetics; D009699:N-Glycosyl Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010744:Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011755:Pyrophosphatases
chemical_list: D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D010744:Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases; D045647:DNA Glycosylases; D009699:N-Glycosyl Hydrolases; C061738:mutY adenine glycosylase; D043382:DNA-Formamidopyrimidine Glycosylase; C468610:DNA-formamidopyrimidine glycosylase, E coli; D011755:Pyrophosphatases; C052211:mutT protein, E coli