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Role of constitutive and inducible repair in radiation resistance of Escherichia coli

  • Microbial Genetics
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Abstract

Radiation resistance of Escherichia coli cells depends on how efficiently DNA is recovered after damage, which is determined by the function of constitutive and inducible repair branches. The effects of additional mutations of the key genes of constitutive and inducible repair (recA, lexA, recB, polA, lig, gyr, recF, recO, recR, recJ, recQ, uvrD, helD, recN, and ruv) on radiation resistance were studied in E. coli K-12 strain AB1157 and highly radiation-resistant isogenic strain Gamr444. An optimal balance ensuring a high γ resistance of the Gamr444 radiation-resistant E. coli mutant was due to expression of the key SOS repair genes (recA, lexA, recN, and ruv) and activation of the presynaptic functions of the RecF homologous recombination pathway as a result of a possible mutation of the uvrD gene, which codes for repair helicase II.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Petersburg Konstantinov Institute of Nuclear Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Gatchina, Leningrad Oblast, 188300, Russia

    E. P. Goulevich, L. V. Kuznetsova & V. N. Verbenko

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  1. E. P. Goulevich
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  2. L. V. Kuznetsova
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  3. V. N. Verbenko
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Correspondence to V. N. Verbenko.

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Original Russian Text © E.P. Goulevich, L.V. Kuznetsova, V.N. Verbenko, 2011, published in Genetika, 2011, Vol. 47, No. 7, pp. 879–889.

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Goulevich, E.P., Kuznetsova, L.V. & Verbenko, V.N. Role of constitutive and inducible repair in radiation resistance of Escherichia coli . Russ J Genet 47, 775–784 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1022795411070076

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