UV mutation spectra in cell lines from patients with Cockayne's syndrome and ataxia telangiectasia, using the shuttle vector pZ189.

We have used the SV40-based shuttle vector pZ189 to determine ultraviolet mutation spectra in SV40-transformed cell lines from two patients with Cockayne's syndrome (CS) and ataxia telangiectasia (AT). The shuttle vector was UV-irradiated, transfected into the cells and recovered two days later, after many rounds of replication had occurred. Plasmid DNA was used to transform indicator bacteria in which plasmids containing a mutation in the supF gene resulted in white colonies. Mutant plasmids were analysed both by agarose gels and by DNA sequencing. In contrast to published spectra for xeroderma pigmentosum cells, the types of mutation induced by UV mutation in the CS and AT cell lines were similar to each other and to published spectra for normal cell lines. There were however, some differences in the sequence distribution of the mutations.