The Spectrum and Frequency of Self-Inflicted and Host Gene Mutations Produced by the Transposon Ac in Maize

The autonomous transposon Activator (Ac) is a powerful mutagen. Ac-induced mutations range from small footprints of host sequences to large rearrangements of transposon or host sequences. These mutations arise by different repair mechanisms of the double-strand break produced by Ac excision: footprints by nonhomologous end joining and rearrangements by various mechanisms, including DNA replication repair. Footprints greatly outnumber other mutations, masking them because they usually share a nonfunctional phenotype. To determine the spectrum and frequencies of host and self-mutations generated by Ac, we used an allele harboring Ac in the 5' untranslated region bronze (bz). In this system, simple excisions produce purple revertants, whereas deletions of host or transposon sequences produce stable bronze (bz-s) mutants. Internal and terminal deletions of Ac predominated among the 72 bz-s derivatives. Most internal deletions (52 of 54) behaved as nonautonomous Dissociation (Ds) elements. All nine terminal deletions or fractured Ac (fAc) elements had rearrangements of adjacent host sequences. Most Ds and fAc deletion junctions displayed microhomologies and contained filler DNA from nearby sequences, suggesting an origin by DNA repair synthesis followed by microhomology-mediated end joining. All mutations occurred more frequently in pollen, where one in 200 grains carried new Ds or fAc elements.