The ultraviolet-light induction of DNA damage has been measured in the epidermis of hairless mice with the use of damage-specific endonucleases from Micrococcus luteus. The rates of induction of endonuclease-sensitive sites in HRS/J/Anl and Skh:hairless-1 mice were 6.1 +/- 0.5 X 10(-11) and 6.5 +/- 0.8 X 10(-11)/dalton/J/sq m from a FS40 fluorescent sun lamp (280 to 400 nm), respectively. Enzym...

The concept that low concentrations of atmospheric oxygen and consequent unattenuated ultraviolet irradiation limited the emergence of Phanerozoic life, the Berkner-Marshall hypothesis, is no longer tenable. Anaerobic bacteria, which probably evolved far earlier than Metazoa, were irradiated in a special chamber under strictly anaerobic conditions. Both intrinsic resistance and photoreactivatio...

Removal of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CBPDs) in vivo from the DNA of UV-irradiated eight-leaf seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana was rapid in the presence of visible light (half-life about 1 hour); removal of CBPDs in the dark, presumably via excision repair, was an order of magnitude slower. Extracts of plants contained significant photolyase in vitro, as assayed by restoration of transform...

Radioimmunoassays were used to monitor the removal of antibody-binding sites associated with the two major UV radiation-induced DNA photoproducts [cyclobutane dimers and (6-4) photoproducts]. Unlike with cultured human cells, where (6-4) photoproducts are removed more rapidly than cyclobutane dimers, the kinetics of repair were similar for both lesions. Repair capacity in wild type diminished t...

Repair of ultraviolet light-induced damage to DNA was studied in three melanoma lines, a mammary carcinoma line, EMT6, and a normal lung fibroblast line, MLF, all from the mouse. The melanomas were B16CL4, a gamma-ray-resistant clonal line derived from B16; S91H-, an auxotrophic line derived from Cloudman S91; and HP, a freshly isolated line from s.c. grown Harding-Passey melanoma. The melanoma...