Effects of 5-azacytosine in DNA on enzymic uracil excision.

PBS-2 phage DNA, which contains uracil in place of thymine, was used as substrate for both purified B. subtilis uracil-DNA glycosylase and a crude extract from M. luteus. Addition of [3H]5-azacytidine to the medium after phage infection resulted in substitution of 1.2% azacytosine for cytosine in DNA. Substrate DNA was also labeled with [14C]uracil. Neither enzyme preparation released tritiated bases from DNA. Analysis by S1 nuclease digestion show no increase in single-strandedness of the modified DNA. Enzymic release of uracil by the M. luteus extract was reduced by about 50% from the substituted substrate. By contrast, the rate of uracil excision by the purified enzyme was unaffected by the presence of DNA 5-azacytosine.