Spontaneous mutagenesis in Escherichia coli harbouring plasmid pKM101: DNA sequence analysis of forward lacI− mutations

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Abstract
To investigate the influence of plasmid pKM101 on spontaneous mutagenesis, 198 lacI- mutations generated in Escherichia coli harbouring pKM101 were characterized at the DNA sequence level. pKM101 by itself did not enhance the lacI- forward mutation frequency. In general, the resultant distribution of mutation highlights particular sequences at which a variety of mutational events repeatedly occur, including 5'-(G/C)TGG-3', 5'-CCAGG-3', 5'-GATC-3' and 5'-TCGCG-3' sequences. Specifically, the distribution of mutation within base substitution and deletion classes distinguishes the pKM101 spectrum from the wild-type distribution (i.e. absence of pKM101). An even distribution amongst base substitutions was observed which corresponds to a 2.9- to 6.3-fold increase in occurrence of low frequency events (A-->G,T,C; G-->C); high frequency events in the wild-type distribution (G-->A,T) were not influenced by the presence of pKM101. One complex event was recovered which was comprised of two base substitutions separated by 4 bp. An 11-fold increase in small deletion events (3-6 bp) was also observed. The observed pKM101 spectrum does not closely resemble the mutational consequences of SOS induction in the absence of mutagenic treatment (recA441 spectrum) but does return a distribution like that obtained in E. coli deficient in polymerase I activity (polA1 spectrum).

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