Preferential excision repair and non-preferential photoreactivation of pyrimidine dimers in the c-ras sequence of cultured goldfish cells.

The time courses of excision repair and photoreactivation of pyrimidine dimers induced by 254-nm UV were examined in the genome overall and in the c-ras sequence of RBCF-1 cells derived from a goldfish, by the use of UV endonuclease of Micrococcus luteus and alkaline agarose gel electrophoresis. Excision repair was more efficient in the ras sequence than in the genome overall, whereas no differences in efficiency of photoreactivation were detected. These results suggest that excision repair is affected by the accessibility of chromatin, while photoreactivation is not.