Comparison of spontaneous hprt mutation spectra at the nucleotide sequence level in the endogenous hprt gene and five other genomic positions.

Mutation spectra at the nucleotide sequence level of five hprt cDNA genes integrated in different genomic positions of a HPRT(-) derivative of the human lymphoblastoid TK6 cell line were compared with each other and with the spectrum of mutations confined to the 657 bp coding region of the endogenous hprt gene in the parental TK6 cells. The mutation rates in these genomic positions vary significantly and also the mutation spectra are different. In each genomic position the majority of mutations are basepair substitutions and deletions. the ratios of which vary among the genomic positions. Although it is likely that the different rates of deletion are to a large extent the net result of different rates of misalignment and repair of these errors in the various genomic positions, for the basepair substitutions it is not possible to deduce which mechanisms have caused these mutations and what causes the differences among the genomic positions. Taken together, the differences in mutation rates and spectra cannot be explained by a single mutagenic process.