Characterization of Hprt mutations in cDNA and genomic DNA of T-cell mutants from control and 1,3-butadiene-exposed male B6C3F1 mice and F344 rats

A multiplex PCR procedure for analysis of genomic DNA mutations in the mouse hypoxanthine‐guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (Hprt) gene was developed and then used with other established methods for the coincident identification of large‐ and small‐scale genetic alterations in the Hprt gene of mutant T‐cell isolates propagated from sham‐ and 1,3‐butadiene (BD)‐exposed mice and rats. The spectra data for RT‐PCR/cDNA analysis and multiplex PCR of genomic DNA from Hprt mutants were combined, and statistical analyses of the mutant fractions for the classes of mutations identified in control versus exposed animals were conducted. Under the assumption that the mutant fractions are distributed as Poisson variates, BD exposure of mice significantly increased the frequencies of (1) nearly all types of base substitutions; (2) single‐base deletions and insertions; and (3) all subcategories of deletions. Significantly elevated fractions of G:C→C:G and A:T→T:A transversions in the Hprt gene of BD‐exposed mice were consistent with the occurrence of these substitutions as the predominant ras gene mutations in multiple tumor types increased in incidence in carcinogenicity studies of BD in mice. BD exposure of rats produced significant increases in (1) base substitutions only at A:T base pairs; (2) single‐base insertions; (3) complex mutations; and (4) deletions (mainly 5′ partial and complete gene deletions). Future coincident analyses of large‐ and small‐scale mutations in rodents exposed to specific BD metabolites should help identify species differences in the sources of deletion mutations and other types of mutations induced by BD exposures in mice versus rats. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 43:75–92, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.