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Title: Mutagenesis and DNA repair in mammalian cells

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6289528

Two aspects of DNA damage and repair in mammalian cells were investigated. Using a lambda phage shuttle vector, a system was developed to study mutations arising in the DNA of mammalian cells. This system was used to determine the spectrum of mutations induced in cellular DNA by ultraviolet light. Also, the repair of base pair mismatches in DNA was studied by the development of a method to detect a DNA mismatch repair activity in extracts made from cultured human cells. In order to study mutations arising in mammalian cells, stable mouse L cell lines were established with multiple copies of lambda phage vector which contains the supF gene of E. coli as a target for mutagenesis. Rescue of viable phage from high molecular weight mouse cell DNA using lambda in vitro packaging extracts was efficient and yielded a negligible background of phage with mutations in the supF gene. From mouse cells exposed to 12 J/m/sup 2/ of 254 nm ultraviolet (UV) light, 78,510 phage were rescued of which eight were found to have mutant supF genes. DNA sequence analysis of the mutants suggests that the primary site of UV mutagenesis in mammalian cells is at pyrimidine-cytosine (Py-C) sequences, and that the most frequent mutation at this site is a C to T transition.

Research Organization:
Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (USA)
OSTI ID:
6289528
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English