Molecular analysis of four lactate dehydrogenase-A mutants in the mouse.

Four electrophoretic and/or enzyme-activity variants of murine LDH-A subunit (Ldhla-m1Neu, Ldhla-m5Neu, Ldhla-m6Neu, Ldhla-m9Neu), induced by procarbazine hydrochloride or ethylnitrosourea (ENU), were analyzed at the DNA level. The exons of the Ldhl gene from homozygous mutants were amplified by PCR and sequenced. Three mutations resulted from nucleotide substitutions in exon 5: the transitions A-->G at codons 216 (Ldhla-m5Neu) and 225 (Ldhla-m6Neu), and the transversion G-->C (Ldhla-m1Neu) at codon 222. The mutations resulted in the replacements of Glu by Gly (Ldhla-m5Neu), Gln by Arg (Ldhla-m6Neu) and Asp by His (Ldhla-m1Neu). The fourth base substitution, the transition T-->C (Ldhla-m9Neu), has been found at the GT donor splice site following the first exon; this mutation affected the efficiency of transcription. All ENU-induced mutations were A/T-->G/C transitions. The mutation events could be correlated with the biochemical and physiological alterations observed in affected mice.