Hydrogen peroxide induces G:C to T:A and G:C to C:G transversions in the supF gene of Escherichia coli.

A vector plasmid, pZ189, carrying an Escherichia coli supF gene as a target for mutations, was treated with a combination of hydrogen peroxide and Fe3+/EDTA complex and propagated in E. coli host cells that had been induced for SOS functions by ultraviolet irradiation. The mutations frequency increased by up to 30-fold over spontaneous background levels with increasing concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. The increase in mutation frequency correlated with an increase in the formation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine in the pZ189 DNA. Sequence analysis of 82 independent supF mutant plasmids revealed that 70 mutants contained base substitutions, with 63 of the 70 involving a G:C base pair, and with G:C-->C:G (28 cases) and G:C-->T:A (26 cases) transversions predominating. Investigation of the influence of the local DNA sequence on the transversions revealed that the guanine at the center of the triplet 5'-PuGA-3' was five times more likely to mutate after treatment with hydrogen peroxide than that at the center of 5'PyGN3'. G:C-->T:A transversions presumably resulted from mispairing of an altered G (probably 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine) with deoxyadenosine. The origin of the G:C-->C:G transversions may be an as yet unidentified lesion generated by hydrogen peroxide. Mutagenic hotspots for base substitutions were found at positions 133, 160 and 168. Mutation spectra and the positions of mutagenic hotspots, when compared with a previously determined spontaneous mutagenesis spectrum, also provide information on the mechanism of spontaneous mutagenesis.