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L Samson

Publications and source records attributed to L Samson.

81 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Evidence for an adaptive DNA repair pathway in CHO and human skin fibroblast cell lines.

When Escherichia coli is chronically exposed to very low, nontoxic doses of a monofunctional alkylating agent (notably N-methyl-N'-nitro-nitrosoguanidine, MNNG), the adaptive DNA repair pathway is induced which enables the bacteria to resist the killing and mutagenic effects of further alkylation damage. Mutation resistance in adapted bacteria is achieved, at least partly, by a greatly increased capacity of the cells to eliminate the minor DNA alkylation product O6-methyl-guanine, which has been strongly implicated as premutagenic and precarcinogenic. We now show that the chronic treatment of a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and a SV40-transformed human skin fibroblast (GM637) cell line with non-toxic levels of MNNG renders the cells resistant to the induction of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) by further alkylation damage. CHO cells also become resistant to killing (GM637 cells have not yet been tested). Having ruled out explanations such as changes in cell cycle distribution, mutagen permeability and mutagen detoxification, we conclude that resistance is probably achieved by the cells becoming more efficient at repairing alkylation damage, analogous to the adaptive response of E. coli.

Alkylation↗

Effect of the adaptive response on the induction of the SOS pathway in E. coli K-12.

The adaptive-response is an inducible repair system of E. coli which reduces the mutagenic and cytotoxic effects of alkylation damage (Samson and Cairns, 1977). In adapted cells (cells exposed to sublethal doses of alkylating agents) the induction of W-reactivation and W-mutagenesis by alkylating agents is almost totally blocked. Despite the fact that adaptation has no detectable effect on UV mutagenesis in E. coli K-12, it does inhibit to some extent the UV and tif-1 mediated induction of SOS functions such as W-reactivation and lambda prophage induction. Furthermore, the kinetics of induction of W-mutagenesis following UV treatment are altered by adaptation. In this case the adaptive-response seems to specifically block the induction of an error-producing W-reactivating capacity which normally would increase soon after UV treatment, while affecting error-free W-reactivating systems to a lesser extent.

Alkylating Agents↗

Pathways of mutagenesis and repair in Escherichia coli exposed to low levels of simple alkylating agents.

Mutagenesis by simple alkylating agents is thought to occur by either a lexA+-dependent process called error-prone repair or a lex-independent process often attributed to mispairing during replication. We show here that error-prone repair is responsible for the majority of mutants formed after a large dose of alkylating agent, but it is unlikely that it contributes significantly to mutagenesis during exposure to low concentrations of these chemicals. The mutagenicity of these low doses of alkylating agent is reduced by a repair system constitutively present in lexA+ cells but absent in lexA mutants. This system reduces mutagenesis until a second error-free system, called the adaptive responses, can be induced [P. Jeggo, M. Defais, L. Samson, and P. Schendel, Mol. Gen. Genet, 157:1-9, 1977; L. Samson and J. Cairns, Nature (London) 267:281-283, 1977]. The adaptive response is capable of dealing with a much larger amount of alkylation damage than the constitutive system and, when induced, appears to be able to reduce mutagenesis by both decreasing the number of sites available for mutagenesis and delaying the induction of error-prone repair enzymes. Finally, we discuss a model of chemically induced mutagenesis based on these findings which maintains that the observed mutation frequency is dependent on a "race" between these two error-free systems and the two mutagenic pathways.

Alkylating Agents↗

An adaptive response of E. coli to low levels of alkylating agent: comparison with previously characterised DNA repair pathways.

We have described previously an inducible response in Escherichia coli which occurs during growth on low levels of the methylating agent, N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), and which enables cells both to survive better and to be less mutated by a subsequent challenge dose of MNNG than control cultures (Samson and Cairns, 1977). We show here that this response is distinct from previously characterised pathways of DNA repair, and particularly from the SOS response, which is another inducible effect resulting from DNA damage. An examination of the cross-reactivity of this response with other mutagens has shown that it is a generalised mechanism affecting alkylation damage to DNA. It cannot, however, be induced by UV or the UV-mimetic mutagen, 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide, nor act on lesions put into DNA by those mutagens.

4-Nitroquinoline-1-oxide↗

A performance rating scale for evaluating clinical competence of occupational therapy students.

This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a 53-item rating scale, the Field Work Performance Report (FWPR), developed to evaluate the performance of occupational therapy students during field work. University faculty and field work supervisors from five different geographic regions in the United States participated in instrument construction. The FWPR was field-tested on a standardization group of 934 student affiliates. An item-analysis and cross-validation design was used to investigate instrument reliability and validity. When FWPR ratings were correlated with other supervisor ratings of student performance, validity coefficients for this scale ranged from .62 to .83. The tests of reliability yielded an inter-rater correlation coefficient of .75, where the consistency coefficient was .97. The FWPR has now been adopted as the official instrument of the AOTA for evaluation of field work performance.

Achievement↗