Perspectives on UV light mutagenesis: investigation of the CHO aprt gene carried on a retroviral shuttle vector

The extent to which the cellular processing of shuttle vector-carried genes reflects that of endogenous chromosomal loci has been a subject of considerable controversy. In order to address this issue, we have developed a retroviral-based shuttle vector carrying the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (aprt) gene stably integrated into the genome to be used for studying mutational specificity in mammalian cells. Initially, we have characterized a collection of UV-induced mutants in a CHO cell background. We have therefore been able to directly compare this shuttle vector data to that previously obtained for UV-induced mutation at the endogenous CHO (aprt) locus. Although some potential differences between the two spectra have been noted, there appears to be a remarkable similarity in the distribution and site specificity of UV-induced mutations. These similarities extend to extrachromosomal shuttle vectors as well and consolidate the role of shuttle vectors as powerful analytical tools for studying mechanisms of point mutagenesis in mammalian cells.