Mechanisms involved in repairing the lesions induced in pBR 322 by PUVA treatment (8-Methoxypsoralen + ultraviolet A light)

This work deals with the genotoxic effects derived from damaging pBR322 DNA through PUVA treatment (8-Methoxypsoralen plusUVA light), both with respect to the lethality and mutagenicity of the lesions produced by the treatment. The mechanisms involved in the repair of the plasmid lesions have been investigated by transforming several strains of E. coli differing in their DNA-repair capacities. The frequency, distribution and type of mutations occurring in a restriction fragment of the damaged plasmid were determined in order to establish the mutagenic features of the PUVA treatment. Damages produced bY PUVA habe a strong lethal effect on plasmid survival; however, partial recovery is possible through some of the bacterial DNA repair pathways, namely Excision repair, SOS-repair and a third mechanism which appears to be independent from the analised genes and is detected at high density of lesions per plasmid molecule. PUVA treatment produces a high increase in plasmid mutagenesis; however, the contribution of such an increase to the whole plasmid survival is negligible. Only punctual mutations were detected and consisted mainly in base-pair substitutions. Some mutation-prone regions were sound inside the investigated DNA fragment, a though their existence is more likely to be related with the structure acquired by the damaged DNA than with the type of damaging agent. (Author)