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Efficient hydroxylamine mutagenesis ofHaloferax mediterranei and other extremely halophilic archaebacteria

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Abstract

The lethal and mutagenic effects of hydroxylamine onHaloferax mediterranei and five other extremely halophilic archaebacteria are described for the first time. Although previous studies have shown thatH. mediterranei was very resistant to the lethal action of other DNA-damaging agents, this strain was found to be relatively sensitive to hydroxylamine, but also more successfully mutated by the latter. The efficiency of the mutagenicity obtained with the hydroxylamine treatment was tested under a variety of conditions, and optimal procedures are described that yielded a number of useful auxotrophic mutant strains ofH. mediterranei. Likewise, a strong induced mutagenicity after hydroxylamine mutagenesis was achieved for the majority of the other archaebacteria tested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sevilla, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

    R. Fernández-Castillo,  J. J. Nieto, M. Megías & F. Ruiz-Berraquero

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  1. R. Fernández-Castillo
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  2. J. J. Nieto
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  3. M. Megías
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  4. F. Ruiz-Berraquero
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Fernández-Castillo, R., Nieto, J.J., Megías, M. et al. Efficient hydroxylamine mutagenesis ofHaloferax mediterranei and other extremely halophilic archaebacteria. Current Microbiology 21, 83–89 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02091824

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