Abstract
A synthetic DNA substrate containing O 6 -methyI(8- 3 H)guanine was used to assay demethylation of the premutagenic base by O 6 -methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase in extracts of HeLa cells, Chinese hamster ovary cells and normal rat kidney cells which had been treated with multiple doses of N-methyl-N' -nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). No induction of methyltransferase activity was observed in any of the cell lines tested. Constitutive levels of methyltransferase in cell lines proficient (Mex + ) in O 6 -methylguanine repair were decreased in a dose-dependent fashion by either single or multiple treatments with MNNG over a broad range of dose levels. Recovery of constitutive levels of activity required 24-to 48-h incubation periods. Repair deficient (Mex ) cell lines lacked both constitutive and inducible methyltransferase activity.

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