Suppressible and nonsuppressible +1 G-C base pair insertions induced by ICR-170 at the his4 locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Fifteen independent ICR-170-induced his4 mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were examined by DNA sequence analysis. All of the mutations contained a +1 G-C base pair addition in the HIS4 coding region. Eleven different sites of insertion were identified. Combined with previous DNA sequence data, 21 ICR-170-induced his4 mutations distributed at 16 different sites were analyzed. The insertions were always located in a consecutive run of two or more G-C base pairs, with all base pairs in each run having identical orientation. Long consecutive G-C runs were preferred target sites over short runs. Although some consecutive G-C runs appeared to be preferred target sites over others of identical length, such preference was not due to any particular type of nucleotide pair immediately adjacent to a given target site. In addition, DNA sequence analyses of the his4 mutations provided a basis for examining the mechanism of mRNA sequence recognition by extragenic suppressors of ICR-170-induced mutations. The implications of these results for mechanisms of frameshift suppression are discussed.