Mirror image stereoisomers of the major benzo[a]pyrene N2-dG adduct are bypassed by different lesion-bypass DNA polymerases in E. coli.

The potent mutagen/carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) is metabolically activated to (+)-anti-B[a]PDE, which induces a full spectrum of mutations (e.g., G-to-T, G-to-A, -1 frameshifts, etc.