DNA polymerase α does not mediate G 0–G 1 increase in yield of X-ray-induced exchange aberrations in human peripheral blood lymphocytes

Abstract

We report experiments to test the hypothesis that the increased yield of dicentric chromosomes observed in human peripheral blood lymphocytes treated with X-rays during the G 1 phase of their first cell cycle, as compared with the yield when the cells are treated in their G 0 phase prior to phytohemagglutinin stimulation, is a manifestation of the recently-reported conversion of an inactive form of DNA polymerase α to its active form as the PHA-stimulated cells pass from G 0 into G 1 (Sylvia et al., 1988). The specific polymerase α inhibitor butylphenyl deoxyguanosine was used as an X-ray post-treatment. The results show that polymerase α is not involved.