Summary
E. coli strains carrying the dam-3 and dam-4 mutations resulting in reduced levels of 6-methyladenine in the DNA have been found to be more sensitive to base analogue mutagenesis than dam + strains. Mutagenesis by EMS was also found to be enhanced in dam − strains. Dam − mutants however were not found to be hypermutable by UV light. It is concluded that the dam − strains are deficient in the correct repair of mispairing lesions. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that 6-methyladenine residues in the DNA are involved in strand discrimination during mismatch correction.
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Glickman, B., van den Elsen, P. & Radman, M. Induced mutagenesis in dam − mutants of Escherichia coli: A role for 6-methyladenine residues in mutation avoidance. Molec. Gen. Genet. 163, 307–312 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00271960
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00271960