The nature of X-ray-induced mutations after recovery in excision repair-deficient (mus-201) Drosophila females

Induced mutagenic effects in the nucleotide excision repair deficient Drosophila mutant mus201(D1), expressing a truncated XPG protein

Defects in nucleotide excision repair (NER) as defined by the UV sensitivity of xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), Cockayne syndrome (CS) and trichothiodystrophy (TTD) patients has lead to the identification of most of the genes involved: XPA through XPG, CSA and CSB. Whereas XP patients often show an increased risk for skin cancer after exposure to sunlight, this is not the case for patients with CS and TTD. Several CS patients have been shown to carry a defect in the XPG gene. The XPG, a structure specific endonuclease makes the incision 3' of damage and is also involved in the subsequent 5'incision during the NER process. In addition, XPG plays a role in the removal of oxidative DNA damage. The Drosophila XPG gene was isolated and based on the molecular defect of a spontaneous (insertion) and an EMS induced mutant, it was shown that a mutated XPG is responsible for the Drosophila mutagen-sensitive mutants mus201. One of these mutants, mus201(D1) has been used extensively in studies of the effects and mechanisms of many chemical mutagens as well as X-rays. The results of these studies are discussed in the light of the finding that mus201p is the Drosophila homologue of XPG.

Deletions induced in the white and vermilion genes of Drosophila melanogaster by the antitumor drug cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II)

This paper describes the analysis of cisplatin induced mutations at the white (w) and vermilion (v) loci located on the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Twenty-eight w and eight v mutants have been found in a male genetic context and 42 w mutants in a female genetic context. In these latter experiments, genetic analysis showed the presence of multi-locus deficiencies in 18 out of 42 w mutants. Eighteen w and three v intragenic mutations were analyzed at the molecular level. Seventeen w and three v mutants carry deletions within the gene, ranging in size from 4 to 109 base pairs. Sequence analysis of the mutants indicates that most of them were produced by non-homologous recombinational events occurring between short (2-5 bp) sequence repeats on both sides of the deletion, one repeat being retained at the new junction. These results differ largely from those obtained in prokaryotic and other eukaryotic cells.

DNA base sequence changes induced by diethyl sulfate in postmeiotic male germ cells of Drosophila melanogaster

The DNA base sequence changes induced by diethyl sulfate (DES) were analyzed in postmeiotic male germ cells of Drosophila melanogaster. 31 transmissible vermilion mutants were recovered in F1 and F2 generations, with a frequency of 2.6 x 10(-4) for the F1, and of 1.8-13 x 10(-4) for the F2. The results show that DES induces both base pair substitutions (93%) and deletions (7%). In accord with its relatively high ability to alkylate oxygens in DNA, the most frequent type of sequence alteration among the basepair changes are GC-AT transitions, accounting for 73% of mutations, followed by transversions AT-TA (10%). DES also induced AT-GC transitions and AT-CG transversions. Both induced deletions were intralocus deletions, not occurring between basepair repeats. No influence of neighboring bases on the mutation position was found.

Studies on mutagen sensitive strains of Drosophila melanogaster. XI. Survival (dominant lethality) after X-irradiation and relation to recessive lethals and translocations

Muller-5 males of Drosophila melanogaster were irradiated in N2 or O2 and mated to excision repair deficient, post-replication repair deficient (mei-9a, mei-41D5, mus101D1, mus201D1, mus302D1, mus306D1 and mus308D2) or repair proficient females. The surviving fraction (dominant lethality) was estimated in the F1 and used to reassess existing recessive lethal and translocation data. The surviving fraction was found to decrease if repair deficient females were used (maternal effect). The dose-effect curves are often biphasic with a steeper slope at low doses than at high (> or = 5 Gy) doses of X-rays. The high dose part of the curve is sensitive to oxygenation during irradiation and is affected significantly by the mutants with low fertility (mei-9, mus101 and mus302). The low dose component is not sensitive to oxygenation during irradiation and seems influenced by all seven repair deficient mutants. The sensitivity of the high dose part to oxygenation suggests that this part is related mainly to DNA break damage, while in the low dose part base damage seems more important. Existing recessive lethal and translocation data were plotted against the surviving fraction for a reassessment. In excision repair deficient mutants translocation induction is lower compared to repair proficient flies at the same level of survival (i.e., dominant lethality). Likewise in post-replication repair deficient mutants induction of recessive lethals is decreased. However the frequency of respectively induced recessive lethals and translocations obtained at the same level of X-rays was the same in repair deficient and proficient backgrounds. It is concluded that genetic damage recovered in a repair deficient background is likely to be qualitatively different even if the frequency of the damage induced by a given dose is not altered.

Utilization of the specific-locus assay in the ad-3 region of two-component heterokaryons of Neurospora for risk assessment of environmental chemicals

The utilization of the specific-locus assay in the ad-3 region of two-component heterokaryons of Neurospora crassa is compared with that of other eukaryotic assay systems for the evaluation of the mutagenic effects of environmental chemicals. In contrast to other in vitro specific-locus assays, the Neurospora assay can detect mutations not only at the ad-3A and ad-3B loci but also recessive lethal mutations elsewhere in the genome. Mutational damage in this system can be characterized readily by means of classical genetic techniques involving heterokaryon tests to determine genotype, and allelic complementation among ad-3BR mutations. The percentages of ad-3BR mutations showing allelic complementation with polarized or nonpolarized complementation patterns provide a presumptive identification of the genetic alterations at the molecular level in individual mutants. Dikaryon and trikaryon tests (using 3 strains carrying multilocus deletion mutations as tester strains) distinguish ad-3 mutations resulting from gene/point mutation, multilocus deletion mutation, and various types of multiple-locus mutation. The array of ad-3 mutations recovered from forward-mutation experiments can be expressed in terms of Mutational Spectra, which make it possible to make comparisons of mutational types between different doses of the same mutagen, different mutagens, or the effects of the same mutagen on different strains. Another important feature of this specific-locus assay system is that the effects of mutagens can be studied in both DNA excision repair-proficient (H-12) and -deficient (H-59) two-component heterokaryons to evaluate both quantitative and qualitative differences between the spectra of induced ad-3 mutations. The utilization of this assay on large numbers of environmental chemicals has shown that some chemicals produce predominantly, or exclusively, gene/point mutations, whereas other agents produce both gene/point mutations and multilocus deletion mutations in H-12. When the mutagenic effects of the same chemicals were compared in H-12 and H-59, marked differences between forward-mutation frequencies and Mutational Spectra of ad-3 mutations were detected.