Proofreading-defective DNA polymerase II increases adaptive mutation in Escherichia coli.

The role of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase (Pol) II in producing or avoiding mutations was investigated by replacing the chromosomal Pol II gene (polB+) by a gene encoding an exonuclease-deficient mutant Pol II (polBex1). The polBex1 allele increased adaptive mutations on an episome in nondividing cells under lactose selection. The presence of a Pol III antimutator allele (dnaE915) reduced adaptive mutations in both polB+ cells and cells deleted for polB (polB delta 1) to below the wild-type level, suggesting that both Pol II and Pol III are synthesizing episomal DNA in nondividing cells but that in wild-type cells Pol III generates the adaptive mutations. The adaptive mutations were mainly -1 frame-shifts occurring in short homopolymeric runs and were similar in wild-type, polB delta 1, and polBex1 strains. Mutations produced by both Pol III and Pol II ex1 were corrected by the mutHLS mismatch repair system.