Deinococcus radiodurans is extremely resistant to ionizing radiation. How this bacterium can grow under chronic gamma radiation [50 grays (Gy) per hour] or recover from acute doses greater than 10 kGy is unknown. We show that D. radiodurans accumulates very high intracellular manganese and low iron levels compared with radiation-sensitive bacteria and that resistance exhibits a concentration-dependent response to manganous chloride [Mn(II)]. Among the most radiation-resistant bacterial groups reported, Deinococcus, Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, and cyanobacteria accumulate Mn(II). In contrast, Shewanella oneidensis and Pseudomonas putida have high iron but low intracellular manganese concentrations and are very sensitive. We propose that Mn(II) accumulation facilitates recovery from radiation injury.

Deinococcus radiodurans R1 (DEIRA) is a bacterium best known for its extreme resistance to the lethal effects of ionizing radiation, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenotype remain poorly understood. To define the repertoire of DEIRA genes responding to acute irradiation (15 kGy), transcriptome dynamics were examined in cells representing early, middle, and late phases of recovery by using DNA microarrays covering Ϸ94% of its predicted genes. At least at one time point during DEIRA recovery, 832 genes (28% of the genome) were induced and 451 genes (15%) were repressed 2-fold or more. The expression patterns of the majority of the induced genes resemble the previously characterized expression profile of recA after irradiation. DEIRA recA, which is central to genomic restoration after irradiation, is substantially up-regulated on DNA damage (early phase) and down-regulated before the onset of exponential growth (late phase). Many other genes were expressed later in recovery, displaying a growth-related pattern of induction. Genes induced in the early phase of recovery included those involved in DNA replication, repair, and recombination, cell wall metabolism, cellular transport, and many encoding uncharacterized proteins. Collectively, the microarray data suggest that DEIRA cells efficiently coordinate their recovery by a complex network, within which both DNA repair and metabolic functions play critical roles. Components of this network include a predicted distinct ATP-dependent DNA ligase and metabolic pathway switching that could prevent additional genomic damage elicited by metabolism-induced free radicals.T he Gram-positive aerobic bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans R1 (DEIRA) has an extraordinary resistance to ␥-radiation and a wide range of other DNA-damaging conditions, including desiccation and oxidizing agents (1, 2). Ionizing radiation induces DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) that are the most lethal form of DNA damage (3). After acute exposures to 10 kGy, early stationary phase (ESP) DEIRA can reassemble its 3.285-Mbp genome, which consists of four haploid genomic copies per cell (4), from hundreds of DNA DSB fragments without lethality or induced mutagenesis (5, 6). Also remarkable is DEIRA's ability to grow at 60 Gy͞h without any discernable effect on its growth rate (7). Because most organisms, generally, can tolerate so few DSBs (8), radiationinduced DSBs and their repair have been difficult to study. In DEIRA, however, there are so many DSBs in fully viable irradiated cells after high-dose irradiation that the steps in DSB repair can be monitored directly in mass culture (5, 9-11). This characteristic has been exploited and used to examine the timing of DNA recombination (5, 10, 12) after high-dose irradiation and has revealed the sequential action of RecA-independent and -dependent pathways during repair (11).Comparative genomic and experimental analyses support the view that DEIRA's extreme radiation resistance phenotype is complex, likely determined collectively by an assortment o...