A sensitive molecular assay for mutagenesis in mammalian cells: reversion analysis in cells with a mutant shuttle vector gene integrated into chromosomal DNA.

We have developed a system for the molecular analysis of mutations in mammalian cells. This system is based upon the use of mammalian cell lines containing mutant shuttle vector genes integrated into chromosomal DNA. The target for mutation was the Escherichia coli gpt gene, coding for the enzyme xanthine (guanine) phosphoribosyltransferase (GPT; EC 2.4.2.22). We have previously isolated a large number of cell lines containing mutant gpt genes with single base changes. From these lines, revertants were selected on the basis of the reappearance of GPT activity. In general, the frequency of revertants was below 10(-7). The gpt genes were recovered from 32 revertants and sequenced to determine the nature of the base changes associated with reversion. In the majority of the revertants, there was a base change within the originally mutated codon, leading to either restoration of the wild-type amino acid sequence or substitution of a different amino acid at the original mutated site. In no case did reversion of a base substitution mutant involve an amino acid residue other than that affected by the original mutation. The results have demonstrated a number of sites in the GPT polypeptide at which amino acid substitutions are compatible with enzyme activity and one site at which the loss of an amino acid is compatible with enzyme activity. This study establishes reversion analysis as a sensitive molecular assay for mutagenesis in mammalian cells.