A sensitive endonuclease probe for lesions in deoxyribonucleic acid helix structure produced by carcinogenic or mutagenic agents.

The highly single strand-specific extracellular nuclease of Pseudomonas BAL 31 is shown to cleave non-supercoiled closed circular duplex PM2 bacteriophage DNA containing regions of altered helix structure produced in vitro by irradiation with ultraviolet light or by treatment with the carcinogen, N-acetoxy-N-2-acetylaminofluorene. Untreated samples of this DNA are affected very little by the nuclease. The unwinding of the DNA helix associated with the above treatment renders the closed circular DNA positively supercoiled compared to untreated samples. The extent of unwinding can be accurately measured and correlated with the average number of lesions per molecule of DNA by monitoring the alterations of the electrophoretic patterns, relative to those observed for untreated DNA, of such DNA in agarose gels. Interstrand cross-links and mismatched base pairs produced by treatment of non-supercoilded circular duplex DNA with the mutagen, nitrous acid, do not detectably unwind the DNA helix. The nitrous acid-treated DNA provides substrates for cleavage by the Pseudomonas nuclease which are likely to be the interstrand cross-links rather than the mismatched base pairs. Use of the Pseudomonas nuclease in conjunction with agarose gel electrophoresis can provide a powerful method for the detection of damage in duplex DNA such as that introduced by carcinogenic and mutagenic agents.