A forward mutation assay was developed to study mutagenic specificity
induced by temperature-sensitive alleles of bacteriophage T4 gene 42,
which encodes a thermolabile deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase. Thymidi
ne kinase (tk) mutations induced by T4 ts B3 at a semi-permissive temp
erature (34-degrees-C) were selected under near-ultraviolet light on s
ynthetic agar plates containing bromodeoxyuridine, and sequenced after
PCR amplification of the tk gene. 21 of 23 tk- mutations identified w
ere C --> T transitions, while the remainder were C --> A transversion
s. Analyses of the DNA sequence around each mutant site suggest that t
he mispairing of thymine with guanine in the template is suppressed wh
en the next nucleotide is dGTP. The 5' neighbor nucleotide of the mism
atch may influence mutation frequency as well; no mutations with dAMP
residues on the upstream side were seen. Our observations with the for
ward mutation assay here are consistent with previous results from an
rII reversion assay, supporting our model that the mutator phenotype d
isplayed by tsLB3 is a consequence of perturbation of dNTP supplies to
replication sites due to partial impairment of thermolabile deoxycyti
dylate hydroxymethylase at a semi-permissive temperature. The forward
mutation assay described here is readily adapted for other studies of
mutagenesis in T4 phage.