UV-induced G:C-->A:T transitions at the APRT locus of Chinese hamster ovary cells cluster at frequently damaged 5'-TCC-3' sequences.

We have determined the relative frequency in vitro of UV-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (py <> py) and (6-4) pyrimidine pyrimidone photoproducts (py(6-4)pyo) at individual sites in selected regions of the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (aprt) gene, and compared this to the observed specificity of UV-induced mutations (Drobetsky et al., 1987, 1989). Our results indicate that G:C-->A:T transition "hotspots" (multiple occurrences) at the chromosomal CHO aprt locus, the majority of which occur at 5'TCC-3', are clearly targeted at sites associated with a relatively high yield of py <> py and/or py(6-4)pyo. We conclude that photoproduct frequency plays a major role in UV-induced transition mutagenesis at 5'-TCC-3' sites at an endogenous locus in a rodent cell line, and that both py(6-4)pyo and py <> py have premutagenic potential.