DNA STRAND-SPECIFIC REPAIR OF (+/-)-3-ALPHA,4-BETA-DIHYDROXY-1-ALPHA,2-ALPHA-EPOXY-1,2,3,4-TETRAHYDROBENZO[C]PHENANTHRENE ADDUCTS IN THE HAMSTER DIHYDROFOLATE-REDUCTASE GENE

We evaluated the formation and removal of (+/-)-3alpha,4beta-dihydroxy-1alpha,2alpha-epoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[c]phenanthrene (BcPHDE)-DNA adducts in two Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines. One line of repair-proficient cells (MK42) carries a stable 150-fold amplification of the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) locus. The other line of repair-deficient cells (UV-5) is diploid for this gene and is defective in excision of bulky DNA lesions. Two methods were used to quantitate adduct levels in treated cells: Escherichia coli UvrABC excision nuclease cleavage and P-32-postlabeling. DNA repair was examined in the actively transcribed DHFR gene, in an inactive region located 25 kilobases downstream, and in the overall genome. Between 8 and 24 hr after BcPHDE exposure, preferential repair of the DHFR gene compared to the non-coding region was apparent in MK42 cells. This gene-specific repair was, associated with adduct removal from the DHFR transcribed strand. However, UV-5 cells showed no lesion reduction from this strand of the gene. By both quantitation methods, regions accessible to repair in MK42 cells showed a 2-fold reduction in DNA adduct levels-by 24 hr. That the decline in adducts reflects genomic repair was demonstrated by the constant damage level remaining in UV-5 cells. Since BcPHDE-induced mutations in DHFR apparently arise from adducted purines on the nontranscribed strand, results from the present study support the idea that a consequence of strand-specific repair is strand-biased mutations.