Read more
It has been nearly 35 years since the peacetime Biology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory was started, born of rather inauspicious conditions. Virtually no facilities were available and most of the wartime scientists had left. So, when we started out, it was obvious to me that something had to be done to reestab lish research. Even more, because Oak Ridge was not known at that time for its biological work but rather for the separation of Uranium 235, nuclear reactor development, and radioisotope produc tion, a new tradition had to be promoted. Although good biological work had been done at Oak Ridge during the war to protect the workers and the results of this work were quite excellent, very few installations remained. When we started the work of the Biology Division, it became essential to make it part of the flow of mod~rn biology allover the world. As Director, I had to do more than just attract promising scientists. We created an atmosphere conducive to creative research and nurtured all of the other aspects of a productive laboratory. Of course, we carefully prepared the results of our work in publish able form. We made a sincere effort to invite seminar speakers and lecturers to come to Oak Ridge despite the sacrifices this presented to our early budget. We also had to do something more, and here I "cashed in" on my experience of the previous 15 years.
List of contents
Section I Cellular Responses to Mutagenic Agents.- 1 Mutagenesis from a Chemical Perspective: Nucleic Acid Reactions, Repair, Translation, and Transcription.- 2 Regulation and Functions of Escherichiacoli Genes Induced by DNA Damage.- 3 Methylation-Instructed Mismatch Correction as a Postreplication Error Avoidance Mechanism in Escherichiacoli.- 4 Cellular Defense Mechanisms Against Alkylation of DNA.- 5 Cellular Responses to Mutagenic Agents: A Summary and Perspective.- Section II Mutagenesis at Specific Sites.- 6 Mechanisms of UV Mutagenesis in Yeast.- 7 Site-specific Mutagenesis: A New Approach for Studying the Molecular Mechanisms of Mutation by Carcinogens.- 8 Single-Stranded Gaps as Localized Targets for In Vitro Mutagenesis.- 9 Mutagenesis at Specific Sites: A Summary and Perspective.- Section III Mutators, Antimutators, and DNA Replication Errors.- 10 Polymerase Infidelity and Frameshift Mutation.- 11 In Vitro Replication of Mutagen-Damaged DNA: Sites of Termination.- 12 Depurination of DNA as a Possible Mutagenic Pathway for Cells.- 13 Passive Polymerase Control of DNA Replication Fidelity: Evidence Against Unfavored Tautomer Involvement in 2-Aminopurine-Induced Base-Transition Mutations.- 14 Mutators, Antimutators, and DNA Replication Errors: A Summary and Perspective.- Section IV Transposable Elements and Spontaneous Mutation.- 15 Low Level and High Level DNA Rearrangements in Escherichiacoli.- 16 Mutants of Escherichiacoli K12 Which Affect Excision of Transposon TN10.- 17 Gene Conversion: A Possible Mechanism for Eliminating Selfish DNA.- 18 Transposons and Illegitimate Recombination in Prokaryotes: A Summary and Perspective..- Section V Chromosomal and Nonchromosomal DNA.- 19 Mutagenesis and Repair in Yeast Mitochondrial DNA.- 20 Alterations in Chromatin Structure During DNA Excision Repair.- 21 New Approaches to DNA Damage and Repair: The Ultraviolet Light Example.- 22 Chromosomal and Nonchromosomal DNA: A Summary and Perspective.- Section VI Mutagenesis: Future Directions.- 23 Comparison of the Induction of Specific Locus Mutations in Wild-Type and Repair-Deficient Strains of NeurosporaCrassa.- 24 Mammalian Mutagenesis: Future Directions.- 25 Perspectives in Molecular Mutagenesis.- Contributors.
