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Survival of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms after exposure to UV-C, ionizing radiation and desiccation

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Abstract

In this study, we investigated the ability of several (hyper-) thermophilic Archaea and phylogenetically deep-branching thermophilic Bacteria to survive high fluences of monochromatic UV-C (254 nm) and high doses of ionizing radiation, respectively. Nine out of fourteen tested microorganisms showed a surprisingly high tolerance against ionizing radiation, and two species (Aquifex pyrophilus and Ignicoccus hospitalis) were even able to survive 20 kGy. Therefore, these species had a comparable survivability after exposure to ionizing radiation such as Deinococcus radiodurans. In contrast, there was nearly no difference in survival of the tested strains after exposure to UV-C under anoxic conditions. If the cells had been dried in advance of UV-C irradiation, they were more sensitive to UV-C radiation compared with cells irradiated in liquid suspension; this effect could be reversed by the addition of protective material like sulfidic ores before irradiation. By exposure to UV-C, photoproducts were formed in the DNA of irradiated Archaea and Bacteria. The distribution of the main photoproducts was species specific, but the amount of the photoproducts was only partly dependent on the applied fluence. Overall, our results show that tolerance to radiation seems to be a common phenomenon among thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms.

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank Prof. Dr. Reinhard Sterner (Institute of Biophysics und Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Germany) for fruitful discussions and Dr. Andreas Klingl (Center for Electron Microscopy, University of Regensburg, Germany) for performing the scanning electron microscopy. Survival data from B. subtilis and D. radiodurans were kindly provided by Marko Wassmann and Anja Bauermeister (both German Aerospace Centre, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Division, Cologne, Germany).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiation Biology Division, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR e.V.), Linder Hoehe, 51147, Cologne, Germany

    Kristina Beblo, Günther Reitz & Petra Rettberg

  2. Institute for Microbiology and Archaea Center, Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine, University Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Kristina Beblo, Reinhard Wirth & Harald Huber

  3. Laboratoire “Lésions des Acides Nucléiques”, Service de Chimie Inorganique et Biologique, CEA/DSM/Département de Recherche Fondamentale sur la Matière Condensée, CEA-Grenoble, Grenoble, France

    Thierry Douki

  4. Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology, Regensburg University Clinics, Regensburg, Germany

    Gottfried Schmalz

  5. Center for Electron Microscopy, Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine, University Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Reinhard Rachel

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  1. Kristina Beblo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristina Beblo.

Additional information

Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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Beblo, K., Douki, T., Schmalz, G. et al. Survival of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms after exposure to UV-C, ionizing radiation and desiccation. Arch Microbiol 193, 797–809 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-011-0718-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-011-0718-5

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