Action spectra for inactivation and membrane damage of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells irradiated in vacuum by monochromatic synchrotron UV radiation (155-250 nm).

Abstract

AbstractWe investigated the wavelength dependence of inactivation and membrane damage in yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in the range from 170 to 200 nm. Action spectra constructed at wavelengths from 155 to 250 nm using published data were nearly the same for the two types of effects below 200 nm, but differed from the absorption spectrum of DNA, indicating that major lethal damage occurred in the membrane, not in DNA. This conclusion was strongly supported by the finding that far‐UV‐sensitive cells, which lack excision repair, showed no enhanced sensitivity below 200 nm.