N-acetylated and deacetylated 4'-fluoro-4-aminobiphenyl and 4-aminobiphenyl adducts differ in their ability to inhibit DNA replication of single-stranded M13 in vitro and of single-stranded phi X174 in Escherichia coli.

Calf thymus single-stranded (ss) DNA was modified with the N-sulfate conjugate of N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (N-OH-AAF), N-hydroxy-4'-fluoro-4-acetylaminobiphenyl (N-OH-FAABP) or N-hydroxy-4-acetylaminobiphenyl (N-OH-AABP) to yield predominantly N-acetylated adducts of 2-aminofluorene, 4-aminobiphenyl and 4'-fluoro-4-amino-biphenyl respectively to C8 of deoxyguanosine (dG-C8-AAF, dG-C8-AABP and dG-C8-FAABP). The modified DNAs were used as templates for in vitro DNA synthesis. DNA replication on the randomly primed template was inhibited as compared to control (unmodified) DNA to the same extent by all three types of adducts, irrespective of whether polymerization was performed by Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I, modified T7 DNA polymerase or Thermus aquaticus (Taq) DNA polymerase. In addition, all three types of adducts completely blocked replication of ss phi X174 in an E. coli host: on average one adduct per DNA molecule was sufficient to inactivate the bacteriophage. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of DNA fragments synthesized by E. coli DNA polymerase I on FAABP- and AABP-modified ss M13mp9 DNA templates, showed that termination occurred predominantly one nucleotide before (and occasionally opposite) a modified deoxyguanosine in the template. However, the deacetylated adducts, dG-C8-AF, dG-C8-ABP and dG-C8-FABP (obtained by reacting DNA with their N-trifluoroacetyl-N-acetoxy esters) were frequently bypassed during replication of ss phi X174 in E. coli, though with different efficiencies: 1 out 7, 1 out of 2 and 1 out of 3 adducts on average respectively caused bacteriophage inactivation. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that termination of DNA synthesis occurred at least as frequently opposite as 3' to a modified deoxyguanosine in the template.