Base substitutions and frameshift deletion mutations generating in cells are associated with aging, genetic diseases and initiation of cancer. A base substitution induces a point mutation, resulting in a single incorrect amino acid in the protein sequence whereas a frameshift alters the entire amino acid sequence upstream of the mutation. Frameshift deletions are formed during translesion synthesis past endogenous or exogenous DNA damage Ripley, 1990 . Fresco and Alberts 1960 suggest-ed that loops in duplex DNA might lead to the formation of deletions. The concept of slipped mispairing was proposed by Streisinger et al. 1966 and1985 to account for the increased frequency of frameshift detected in iterated nucleotide sequences. Fowler et al. 1974 introduced a mechanism for substitution errors involving transient misalignment of the template-primer complex. Kunkel and co-workers Kunkel and Soni, 1988;Bebenek and Kunkel, 1990;Kunkel, 1990 showed that frameshift deletions were induced by base mismatches, and proposed two alternative pathways; namely, misinsertion preceding misalignment Fig. 1A
Summar yFrameshift deletion is induced by many types of DNA damage in cells. However, the mechanism by which deletions are generated has not been extensively explored. The number of deletions during DNA synthesis catalyzed by the 3' 5' exonuclease-free exo Klenow fragment of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I pol I was determined systematically on dG-acetylaminofluorene dG-AAF -modified oligodeoxynucleotides templates with different bases 3' and/or 5' to the lesion. Under conditions where the dNMP deoxynucleoside 3'-monophosphate positions opposite dG-AAF can pair with its complementary base at the 5' flanking position, one-base deletions are produced. Since the relative frequency of base insertion opposite the lesion followed the order: dCMP dAMP dGMP dTMP, frequency of generating deletions paralleled to the insertion frequency of dNTP opposite the lesion. Inhibition of chain extension from the dC:dG-AAF pair also be involved in the formation of deletions. These results were supported by steady-state kinetic studies. Two and more base deletions were formed in a similar manner to that observed for one-base deletions. When the dG-AAF-modified templates containing iterated bases 5' to the lesion were used, shorter deletions predominated. The formation of deletions was reduced when exo + Klenow fragment was used, suggesting that the proofreading function of the enzyme minimizes the deletion formation. Thus, the ability of generating deletions depends on the a the nature of base inserted opposite the lesion, b sequence context to the lesion, and c the overall rate of translesion DNA synthesis past the lesion. The mechanism for deletions by E. coli DNA pol I may be applied to predict the nature of deletions generated by a variety of DNA adducts and by other prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA polymerases.