The chemical, structural and biochemical techniques are at hand to study the consequences at the molecular level of single site-specific modifications in DNA from the oligonucleotides to the plasmid level. The focus of the proposed conference is to bring together scientists interested in the chemistry, structure, mutagenesis, repair and replication consequences of such lesions and to search for common themes in their mode of action. Specific topics to be covered include base pair mismatches, bulges, abasic sites, O-alkylation sites and cyclic and bulky covalent adducts of DNA. This area has experienced an explosion of activity associated with advances in synthetic methods for lesion incorporation of a single lesion into DNA phage or plasmids and biochemical studies of mutagenesis, repair and replication at this level. The conference with about 100 attendees, will stress interdisciplinary approaches towards understanding structure-activity relationships and the formulation of future opportunities towards a molecular understanding of the mutagenesis and carcinogenesis associated with these DNA lesions. Each session will focus of a topic that can be discussed in biophysical, biochemical and biological terms.
