Mutational specificity of a bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase mutant, mel88.

Several bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase mutants have been shown to increase the frequency of spontaneous mutations (Speyer et al. 1966; Freese and Freese 1967; de Vries et al. 1972; Reha-Krantz et al. 1986). In order to determine the molecular basis of the mutator phenotype, it is necessary to characterize the types of mutations produced by the mutator DNA polymerases. We show here that at least one DNA polymerase mutator mutant, mel88, induces an increased number of base substitution mutations compared with wild-type.