The fidelity of DNA polymerases during in vitro replication of a template containing 5-bromouracil at a specific site.

The miscoding properties of a 5-bromodeoxyuridine (dB) containing DNA template during in vitro replication have been investigated. 5-bromodeoxyuridine was introduced site-specifically into the amber 16 codon of a 25-mer oligodeoxynucleotide representing part of the sequence of phi x174am16(+)DNA. The dB containing oligodeoxynucleotide served as a template for in vitro replication by DNA polymerase alpha, DNA polymerase I (Escherichia coli) and AMV reverse transcriptase. The amber 16 revertant assay was used to detect the presence of misincorporated bases in the replication products. For all three DNA polymerases, the presence of dB does not constitute a significant barrier to replication. Errors at the position of dB substitution were found to originate exclusively from dGTP:dB mispairing during in vitro replication thus inducing A-T----G-C transitions. The dGTP:dB mismatches are formed at a 2-4-fold higher frequency as compared to dGTP:T mismatches. Our results indicate that the miscoding potential of dB-substituted DNA templates during replication is only weak at the specific site observed.