ABSTRACT
Forty-one ionizing radiation-sensitive strains of Deinococcus radiodurans were evaluated for their ability to survive 6 weeks of desiccation. All exhibited a substantial loss of viability upon rehydration compared with wild-type D. radiodurans. Examination of chromosomal DNA from desiccated cultures revealed a time-dependent increase in DNA damage, as measured by an increase in DNA double-strand breaks. The evidence presented suggests that D. radiodurans' ionizing radiation resistance is incidental, a consequence of this organism's adaptation to a common physiological stress, dehydration.
Subject(s)
Micrococcus/radiation effects , Radiation Tolerance , DNA Damage , DNA Repair , Desiccation , Micrococcus/geneticsABSTRACT
Natural transformation was used to help define a collection of ionizing radiation-sensitive strains of Deinococcus radiodurans. Three putative rec mutations were identified, as were three pol alleles. Forty of the ionizing radiation-sensitive strains were placed into 16 linkage groups, and evidence obtained indicates that each linkage group consists of a cluster of mutations not more than 1,000 bp apart. In addition, a new class of D. radiodurans mutant was described that, although radioresistant, appears to recover from ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage slowly relative to other strains of D. radiodurans.
Subject(s)
Genetic Linkage , Gram-Positive Cocci/genetics , Gram-Positive Cocci/radiation effects , Transformation, Bacterial , DNA Damage , DNA Polymerase I/genetics , DNA Repair/genetics , Gamma Rays , Genes, Bacterial/genetics , Gram-Positive Cocci/enzymology , Mutation , Radiation Tolerance/geneticsABSTRACT
Two new loci, irrB and irrI, have been identified in Deinococcus radiodurans. Inactivation of either locus results in a partial loss of resistance to ionizing radiation. The magnitude of this loss is locus specific and differentially affected by inactivation of the uvrA gene product. An irrB uvrA double mutant is more sensitive to ionizing radiation than is an irrB mutant. In contrast, the irrI uvrA double mutant and the irrI mutant are equally sensitive to ionizing radiation. The irrB and irrI mutations also reduce D. radiodurans resistance to UV radiation, this effect being most pronounced in uvrA+ backgrounds. Subclones of each gene have been isolated, and the loci have been mapped relative to each other. The irrB and irrI genes are separated by approximately 20 kb of intervening sequence that encodes the uvrA and pol genes.
