DNA binding and mutation spectra of the carcinogen N-2-aminofluorene in Escherichia coli. A correlation between the conformation of the premutagenic lesion and the mutation specificity.

When the chemical carcinogen N-2-acetylaminofluorene binds to DNA in vivo, two major adducts are formed, both at position C-8 of the guanine residue. One of these (the acetylaminofluorene adduct) retains the acetyl group, while the other (the aminofluorene adduct) is the corresponding deacetylated form. Unlike -AAF adducts, which trigger important structural changes of the DNA secondary structure (either the insertion-denaturation model or the induction of a Z-DNA structure, depending upon the local nucleotide sequence), -AF adducts bind to the C-8 of guanine residues without causing any major conformational change of the B-DNA structure. Well-defined adducts (either -AF or -AAF) can be formed in vitro by reacting DNA with either N-hydroxy-N-2-aminofluorene or N-acetoxy-N-2-acetylaminofluorene. Specific cleavage of the phosphodiester backbone at -AF adducts can be achieved by treating -AF-modified DNA in 1 M-piperidine at 90 degrees C. This observation led us to construct the spectrum for -AF binding to a defined DNA restriction fragment. It is found that only guanine residues react to form alkali-labile lesions and that the reactivity among the different guanines is similar. In a forward mutation assay, namely the inactivation of the tetracycline resistance gene, we found previously that more than 90% of mutations induced by -AAF adducts are frameshift mutations. Using the same assay, we show here that -AF adducts induce primarily base substitution mutations (85%), mainly of the G to T transversion type. There is therefore a strong correlation between the nature of the carcinogen-induced conformational change of the DNA structure and the corresponding mutation specificity. The -AF-induced base substitution mutations depend upon the umuC gene function(s). The data obtained in our forward mutation assay are compared to the data previously obtained in the histidine reversion assay (Ames test).