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Induced mutagenesis in Ustilago maydis

II. An in vivo biochemical assay

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Summary

UV and gamma radiation-induced reversion to nar + in a nar1-m nir1-1 strain of Ustilago maydis was found to occur under nongrowth conditions by performing the in vivo assay for functional nitrate reductase described by Resnick and Holliday (1971) who previously demonstrated that nonviable cells may still synthesize normal or near-normal levels of activity. Reversion frequencies of a single gamma-irradiated culture were estimated in two cell populations by different methods: (A) among surviving clones after plating, and (B) among all cells (viable and nonviable) in suspension in the absence of postirradiation cell division. At gamma doses (300, 500 krad) corresponding to considerable cell killing (35%, 2% survival), reversion frequency by either method was the same. This supports the conclusion that mutation induction by gamma rays and its expression occur in nonviable cells with the same frequency as among survivors. If an error-prone repair system is assumed to be responsible for the observed gamma revertibility, then it is argued that this process is constituitive rather than inducible and that it is recombination-independent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, NW71AA, London, England

    Jeffrey F. Lemontt

  2. Biology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 37830, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

    Jeffrey F. Lemontt

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  1. Jeffrey F. Lemontt
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Communicated by Ch. Auerbach

Operated by the Union Carbide Corporation for the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration

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Lemontt, J.F. Induced mutagenesis in Ustilago maydis . Molec. Gen. Genet. 145, 133–143 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00269585

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00269585

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