We have found a significant concordance between the in vitro replication errors of human DNA polymerase beta and in vivo point mutations of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene that leads to colon cancer. We determined the error spectrum of DNA polymerase beta in the human APC gene under PCR conditions and compared it with the set of mutations reported in human colon tumors. Polymerase beta created seven hotspot mutations within 141 target bp analyzed in APC exon 15. Three of these polymerase beta hotspots, 2 frameshifts and a bp substitution mutation, were concordant with 3 of 13 APC hotspots detected in human colon cancers in the same DNA sequences. These 3 concordant hotspots accounted for some 54% of reported in vivo APC hotspot mutations. Using the assumption of a hypergeometric distribution of hotspot mutations among bp of the scanned sequences, the probability of this concordance occurring by chance is <4 x 10(-4). These data support the hypothesis that DNA polymerase beta errors are an important fraction of cancer-causing APC mutations.