No abstract

A mutant of Deinococcus (formerly Micrococcus) radiodurans (strain 302, mutant in mtcA) sensitive to both the lethal effect of mitomycin C and the mutagenic effect of simple alkylating agents, but having wild-type resistance to UV light, was treated with the mutagen N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine in an attempt to isolate strains deficient in the ability to excise UV-induced pyrimidine dimers. Three strains were isolated that were UV-sensitive, but had wild-type resistance to the lethal effect of methyl methanesulphonate and all were shown to be unable to excise pyrimidine dimers. The three strains UVS9, UVS25 and UVS78 had, in addition to the mutation in mtcA, mutations in loci designated uvsC, uvsD and uvsE, respectively. When the mutant mtcA gene was replaced by its wild-type allele in all three strains they became UV- and mitomycin C-resistant. On incubating the double mutants UVS9, UVS25 and UVS78 with wild-type DNA about 50% of the transformants selected for UV resistance were mitomycin C-sensitive and about 50% resistant depending on whether the mutant mtcA or the uvsC, D or E genes had been replaced by their wild-type alleles. Although strains mutant singly in uvsC, D or E were UV-resistant the rates of excision of pyrimidine dimers differed between them and was slower in all of them than in the wild-type and strain 302. The results indicate that wild-type D. radiodurans possesses two pathways for the excision of pyrimidine dimers and that mutational blocks in both must exist for the excisionless phenotype to be expressed.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Transformation frequencies greater than 1 % for some single markers were obtained in Micrococcus radiodurans when bacteria in the exponential phase of growth were resuspended in fresh growth medium containing 0.03 M-Ca2+ before being incubated with transforming DNA. Mg2+, Sr2+ or Zn2+ could not replace Ca2+ in giving high frequencies of transformation. The time required for the maximum expression of transformed markers was 2 to 3 h for resistance to rifampicin and acriflavin and 6 to 8 h for resistance to erythromycin, kanamycin and streptomycin. The comparative frequency of transformants at maximum expression for each resistance marker was: kanamycin, 1 ; streptomycin, 1 ; acriflavin, 4; erythromycin, 25 ; rifampicin, 64. Cultures were competent during all stages of exponential growth, the frequency of transformants only falling during stationary phase. The minimum time for DNA to be taken up by M. radiodurans into a DNAase-resistant form was between 3 and 6 s. From 6 s to 10 min exposure to DNA, the number of transformants increased non-linearly with time as though the process was inducible. The transformation frequency was directly proportional to the DNA concentration up to 1 pg ml-l, although even at 88 pg ml-l the bacteria were not saturated. Attempts to measure the fraction of cells which were competent, using the unlinked marker technique, gave values well in excess of one. These were interpreted in terms of multiple genome copies and approximate values of between 0-25 and 0.72 were derived for the competent fractions.

No abstract