Conformational Insights into the Mechanism of Acetylaminofluorene-dG-Induced Frameshift Mutations in the NarI Mutational Hotspot.

Frameshift mutagenesis encompasses the gain or loss of DNA base pairs, resulting in altered genetic outcomes. The NarI restriction site sequence 5'-G1G2CG3CX-3' in Escherichia coli is a well-known mutational hotspot, in which lesioning of acetylaminofluorene (AAF) at G3* induces a greater -2 deletion frequency than that at other guanine sites. Its mutational efficiency is modulated by the nature of the nucleotide in the X position (C ∼ A > G ≫ T). Here, we conducted a series of polymerase-free solution experiments that examine the conformational and thermodynamic basis underlying the propensity of adducted G3 to form a slipped mutagenic intermediate (SMI) and its sequence dependence during translesion synthesis (TLS). Instability of the AAF-dG3:dC pair at the replication fork promoted slippage to form a G*C bulge-out SMI structure, consisting of S- ("lesion stacked") and B-SMI ("lesion exposed") conformations, with conformational rigidity increasing as a function of primer elongation. We found greater stability of the S- compared to the B-SMI conformer throughout TLS. The dependence of their population ratios was determined by the 3'-next flanking base X at fully elongated bulge structures, with 59% B/41% S and 86% B/14% S for the dC and dT series, respectively. These results indicate the importance of direct interactions of the hydrophobic AAF lesion with the 3'-next flanking base pair and its stacking fit within the -2 bulge structure. A detailed conformational understanding of the SMI structures and their sequence dependence may provide a useful model for DNA polymerase complexes.