Potentiation of Alu I-induced chromosome aberrations by high salt concentrations in Chinese hamster ovary cells.

The restriction endonuclease Alu I induces chromosome-type aberrations in Chinese hamster ovary cells whose frequencies are considerably elevated in the presence of high concentrations of MgCl2, (NH4)2SO4, CaCl2 or NaCl. The most plausible explanation for these findings is that salt leads to partial dehistonization of the chromatin which makes more recognition sites available for Alu I.