The resistances of Micrococcus radiodurans to killing and mutation by agents which damage DNA

Abstract

The resistance of Micrococcus radiodurans to the lethal and mutagenic action 3f ultraviolet (UV) light, ionising (γ) radiation, mitomycin C (MTC), nitrous acid (NA), hydroxylamine (HA), N-methyl- N′-nitro- N-nitrosoguanidine (NG), ethylmethanesulphonate (EMS) and β-propiolactone (βPL) has been compared with that of Escherichia coli B/r. M. radiodurans was much more resistant than E. coli B/r to the lethal effects of UV light (by a factor of 33), γ-radiation (55), NG (15) and NA (62), showed intermediate resistance to MTC (4) and HA(7), but was sensitive to EMS (1) and βPL (2). M. radiodurans was very resistant to mutagens producing damage which can be repaired by a recombination system, indicating that it possesses an extremely efficient recombination repair mechanism. Both species were equally sensitive to mutation to trimethoprim resistance by NG, but M. radiodurans was more resistant the E. coli B/r to the other multagens tested, being non-mutable by UV light, γ-radiation, MTC and HA, and only slightly sensitive to mutation by NA, EMS, and βPL. The resistance of M. radiodurans to mutation by UV-light, γ-radiation and MTC is consistent with an hypothesis that recombination repair in M. radiodurans is accurate since these mutagens may depend on an “error-prone” recombination system for their mutagenic effect in E. coli B/r. However, because M. radiodurans is also resistant to mutagens such as HA and EMS, which are mutagenic in E. coli in the absence of an “error-prone” system, we propose that all the mutagens tested may have a common mode of action in E. coli B/r, but that this mutagenic pathway is missing in M. radiodurans.