Molecular mechanisms of mutagenesis and DNA repair

Most organisms including man have evolved ways to handle damage produce in DNA by environmental agents including chemical mutagens and carcinogens. The process of repair of some types of damage is highly regulated in a tissue and cell line-specific fashion and varies from organism to organism. Thus, the ultimate biological effects of the lesions depend not only on the extent of their formation but on the efficiency of their removal as well. The research objectives of this laboratory are to elucidate the mechanism and regulation of repair of damage in DNA produced by simple alkylating mutagens and carcinogens, as well as the mutagenic changes in DNA produced as a result of persistence of unrepaired lesions. Specifically, the current topics of the authors research are (1) to elucidate the enzymatic mechanism of the human repair enzyme, DNA-O6-methylguanine methyltransferase, and to determine the molecular mechanism of its regulation and (2) to study the nature of mutations induced by the presence of alkylated bases and ionizing radiation-damaged bases in DNA using shuttle plasmids that replicate both in human cells and E. coli. The following report on last year's experiments bear upon the first objective