Mutational specificities of environmental carcinogens in the <i>lac</i>I gene of <i>Escherichia coli</i>: IV. The tobacco-specific nitrosamine 4-(methylnitosamino)-1-(3-pyridy)-1-butanone

Abstract

We have determined the mutational specificity of the tobacco-specific carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) by the characterization of 58 induced Escherichia coli lacI-d mutants at the DNA sequence level. Metabolic activation of NNK was carried out using the S9 fraction from Aroclor 1254-treated rats. G:C----A:T transitions dominated the spectrum, accounting for 55% of the mutations recovered. The other base substitutions recovered include three A:T----G:C transitions as well as two A:T----T:A, three A:T----C:G, five G:C----C:G and five G:C----T:A transversions. Other classes of mutational events included two deletions, three duplications and three frame-shifts. The complexity of the NNK mutational spectrum appears consistent with a model that this compound induces mutations by both the methylation and the pyridoloxobutylation of DNA.