N-acetoxy-acetylaminofluorene reacts preferentially with a control region of intracellular SV40 chromosome

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Abstract
Many chemical carcinogens or their metabolites react with DNA; thus it is of interest to determine what effect chromosomal structure has on these reactions. The chromosome of SV40 is well suited for such studies; like chromatin of eukaryotic cells, it is organized into nucleosomes. The nucleotide sequence of SV40 is known, together with much about the pattern of viral gene expression and DNA replication and the structure of the viral chromosome. The binding of the ultimate carcinogen, N-acetoxyacetylaminofluorene (AAAF), to specific regions of the SV40 chromosome in situ in the intact infected [African green monkey kidney cells] was investigated. Apparently, a region containing regulatory functions on the intracellular SV40 chromosome has unique structural properties which render it more susceptible to attack by AAAF than the rest of the SV40 genome. The preferential binding of AAAF to regulatory regions of chromatin may have implications for the mechanism of action of this and similar carcinogens.