Effects of DNA polymerase beta gene over-expressed in transgenic Drosophila on DNA repair and recombination.

DNA polymerase beta (pol beta) cDNA of rat fused to an enhancer-promoter region plus a poly(A) signal sequence of actin 5C gene of Drosophila (abbreviated pol beta) was transferred to the Drosophila genome. Three of four constructed transgenic strains possessing transgene pol beta on different chromosomes were studied. Levels of the pol beta transcript and those of the polymerization activity of pol beta were markedly elevated in cultured cells transfected with pol beta-bearing vectors as well as in embryos of the transgenic strains. The popular idea that DNA polymerase beta participates in DNA repair was not supported by the observation that a pair of a normal and a pol beta strain, and the other pair of a mei-9 mei-41 (DNA-repair deficient double mutations) strain and a pol beta mei-9 mei-41 strain, showed no difference in survival within each pair after treatment with ultraviolet light, methylmethane sulfonate and mitomycin C. The other idea that DNA polymerase beta participates in recombination was supported by the findings that spontaneous frequency of recombination, either meiotic or mitotic, is significantly higher in a transgenic pol beta strain than in a non-transgenic strain. The enhanced recombination frequency in the pol beta strain may, however, reflect an indirect effect of over-produced pol beta proteins on chromosomal stability. Whatever the direct effect of rat pol beta is, the transgenic pol beta flies will be useful for study of the physiological role of pol beta and the mechanism of recombination.