A protective effect of caffeine on the ethidium induced petite mutation in yeast.

A prerequisite for petite induction by ethidium bromide (EB) is an initial covalent attachment of the drug to cytoplasmic DNA. This DNA modification is thought to initiate repair processes. The repair inhibitor, caffeine, provided a protective effect against the ethidium induced petite mutation at caffeine concentrations known to inhibit the repair of UV damage in cytoplasmic DNA (Fig. 1). Mitochondrial DNA isolated from yeast exposed to EB in vivo was not as degraded in the presence of both drugs as with EB alone (Fig. 2).