Kinds and location of mutations induced by (+/-)-7 beta,8 alpha-dihydroxy-9 alpha,10 alpha-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene in the coding region of the hypoxanthine (guanine) phosphoribosyltransferase gene in diploid human fibroblasts.

To gain insight into the mechanisms by which mutations are induced in human cells by carcinogens, we have determined the kinds and location (spectrum) of mutations induced in the coding region of the hypoxanthine (guanine) phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) gene by (+/-)-7 beta, 8 alpha-dihydroxy-9 alpha, 10 alpha-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (BPDE). Individual populations of diploid human fibroblasts were treated with BPDE, or were left untreated (control). After a suitable expression period, the progeny cells were selected for resistance to 6-thioguanine. Individual drug-resistant colonies were isolated, and the mRNA in the lysate of 100-400 cells from each colony was copied directly into cDNA using reverse transcriptase. The cDNA of the HPRT gene of 29 unequivocally independent mutants from BPDE-treated populations and 13 from the control populations was amplified 10(11)-fold, and the product was sequenced directly. Twenty-three of the 29 BPDE-induced mutants examined contained a single base pair substitution; four exhibited two base pair substitutions. Eight out of 13 control mutants exhibited base pair substitutions, and four others were missing a complete exon. Thirty of the 32 base pair substitutions in the BPDE-induced mutants involved G.C base pairs, primarily G.C----T.A transversions. The majority (89%) of the base pair substitutions observed in the mutants from the control population involved an A.T base pair. Base substitutions were found throughout the coding region of the gene, but 41% of those seen in mutants from the BPDE-treated population and 44% of those from the untreated population were located in the first half of exon 3.