Molecular analysis of reactive oxygen-species-induced mammalian gene mutation

We have studied the mutagenicity and toxicity of physical and chemical agents in the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line K1‐BH4 and its transformant, AS52. The AS52 cells lack the normal X‐linked mammalian hypoxanthine‐guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (hprt) gene but instead contain a single autosomally integrated copy of the bacterial equivalent, the xanthine‐guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (gpt) gene. We found that X‐rays and neutrons appear to be equitoxic to both cell types; however, these physical agents are approximately 10 times more mutagenic to the gpt gene of AS52 cells than to the hprt gene of K1‐BH4 cells. We reasoned that if reactive oxygens were to mediate the mutagenic effects of both radiomimetic chemicals and radiation, then reactive oxygen‐producing chemicals, such as streptonigrin and bleomycin, and oxidizing agents such as potassium superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, would exhibit similar levels of toxicity but different frequencies of mutants when assayed with the two cell lines. Our experiments fulfill such predictions. We postulate that the apparent hypermutability of AS52 cells probably results from a higher recovery of multi‐locus deletion mutants in AS52 cells than in K1‐BH4 cells, rather than a higher yield of induced mutants. Preliminary studies, using Southern blot and the polymerase chain reaction to analyze the mutational spectrum of the mutants, support our hypothesis that reactive oxygens induce deletion mutations in mammalian cells.