Summary
Two photoproducts, thymine-thymine and cytosine-thymine-dimers were identified after UV-irradiation of Proteus mirabilis. It was found that 1 erg/mm2 at 253 nm produced approximately 2.9×106 pyrimidine dimers/thymine residues or about 8 dimers per 107 nucleotides. Both photoproducts were excised at the same rate from the DNA of ultraviolet-resistant wildtype cells (PG 273, PG 758), but remained in acid precipitable DNA in ultraviolet-sensitive HC R-mutants (PG 678, PG 686).
The excised dimers appeared both in the TCA-soluble cell fraction and in the medium outside the cells. EXR-mutants (PG 693, PG 699) also demonstrated excision capability. The excision ability of the REC-mutant (PG 672) could not be unambiguously demonstrated, because of high DNA-degradation. The number of excised dimers depended on the UV-dose. In contrast to HC R-mutants of Escherichia coli, HC R-mutants of P. mirabilis showed DNA-degradation at about the same rate as the wildtype strain during repair after UV-irradiation.
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Störl, K., Mund, C. & Venner, H. Repair defect mutants of Proteus mirabilis . Molec. Gen. Genet. 124, 259–268 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293097
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293097