The molecular mechanism of benzimidazole mutagenicity: in vitro studies on transcription and translation.

Benzimidazoles are weak mutagens acting through base substitutions; they are incorporated into nucleic acids. Experiments with deoxyribohomopolymers as templates demonstrated that benzimidazole nucleoside triphosphate is polymerized by RNA polymerase only in the presence of poly dC, i.e., instead of guanine. In plasmolyzed Escherichia coli cells, benzimidazole ribonucleoside diphosphate is polymerized by polynucleotide phosphorylase and can, after blocking of the normal mRNA synthesis with actinomycin D, be used as a messenger for polypeptide formation. The addition of radioactive amino acids to this system showed that benzimidazole is not read preferentially as guanine, as would have been expected from the RNA polymerase results. Instead, the reading was position dependent and brnzimidazole is recognized (1) in the first codon position as adenine, (2) in the second as purine, and (3) in the third possibly only as base. Benzimidazole mutagenicity is thus explained as a G in equilibrium A transition.