Classification of chemical agents as to their ability to induce long- or short-patch DNA repair in human cells.

33 chemical agents and UV- and gamma-irradiation were tested for their comparative ability to induce long-patch or short-patch repair using the 5-bromodeoxy-uridine photolysis assay. For 11 chemical agents repair was long-patch in nature as determined by calculated patch size and response of xeroderma pigmentosum cells relative to normal human cells. Typical patch sizes as measured by this assay were about 90 nucleotides for UV repair, a range of 30 to 70 nucleotides for a variety of known and suspected UV-mimetic chemicals, and 3-4 nucleotides for gamma-radiation. Alkylating agents previously shown to induce short-patch repair were shown also to induce long-patch repair.