Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1985 Mar;161(3):825–830. doi: 10.1128/jb.161.3.825-830.1985

Bacillus subtilis mutants deficient in the adaptive response to simple alkylating agents.

F Morohoshi, N Munakata
PMCID: PMC214972  PMID: 3918989

Abstract

Three mutant strains exhibiting hyper-sensitivity to N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, but not to methyl methanesulfonate, were selected by a replica method from mutagenized spores of Bacillus subtilis. All three were totally deficient in the adaptive response to N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine with regard to both lethality and mutagenesis. The activity to destroy O6-methylguanine residues in the methylated DNA was not elevated in the mutant cells by the pretreatment with sublethal concentrations of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. This deficiency corresponded to the persistence of O6-methylguanine residues in the DNA of both control and pretreated mutant cells challenged with the drug. The lethal and mutagenic sensitivity of the mutant strains were observed only for methyl- or ethyl-nitroso compounds that are thought to be active as inducers and are also active in O-alkylation. Except for the insensitivity to methyl methanesulfonate, the phenotypes of these mutants look very similar to those of ada mutants isolated previously in Escherichia coli.

Full text

PDF
827

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cairns J., Robins P., Sedgwick B., Talmud P. The inducible repair of alkylated DNA. Prog Nucleic Acid Res Mol Biol. 1981;26:237–244. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6603(08)60408-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Day R. S., 3rd, Ziolkowski C. H., Scudiero D. A., Meyer S. A., Lubiniecki A. S., Girardi A. J., Galloway S. M., Bynum G. D. Defective repair of alkylated DNA by human tumour and SV40-transformed human cell strains. Nature. 1980 Dec 25;288(5792):724–727. doi: 10.1038/288724a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Demple B., Jacobsson A., Olsson M., Robins P., Lindahl T. Repair of alkylated DNA in Escherichia coli. Physical properties of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase. J Biol Chem. 1982 Nov 25;257(22):13776–13780. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Evensen G., Seeberg E. Adaptation to alkylation resistance involves the induction of a DNA glycosylase. Nature. 1982 Apr 22;296(5859):773–775. doi: 10.1038/296773a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hadden C. T., Foote R. S., Mitra S. Adaptive response of Bacillus subtilis to N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. J Bacteriol. 1983 Feb;153(2):756–762. doi: 10.1128/jb.153.2.756-762.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Jeggo P. Isolation and characterization of Escherichia coli K-12 mutants unable to induce the adaptive response to simple alkylating agents. J Bacteriol. 1979 Sep;139(3):783–791. doi: 10.1128/jb.139.3.783-791.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Karran P., Hjelmgren T., Lindahl T. Induction of a DNA glycosylase for N-methylated purines is part of the adaptive response to alkylating agents. Nature. 1982 Apr 22;296(5859):770–773. doi: 10.1038/296770a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Karran P., Lindahl T., Griffin B. Adaptive response to alkylating agents involves alteration in situ of O6-methylguanine residues in DNA. Nature. 1979 Jul 5;280(5717):76–77. doi: 10.1038/280076a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. McCarthy J. G., Edington B. V., Schendel P. F. Inducible repair of phosphotriesters in Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Dec;80(24):7380–7384. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.24.7380. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. McCarthy T. V., Karran P., Lindahl T. Inducible repair of O-alkylated DNA pyrimidines in Escherichia coli. EMBO J. 1984 Mar;3(3):545–550. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01844.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Mitra S., Pal B. C., Foote R. S. O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase in wild-type and ada mutants of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1982 Oct;152(1):534–537. doi: 10.1128/jb.152.1.534-537.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Okubo S., Yanagida T. Isolation of a suppressor mutant in Bacillus subtilis. J Bacteriol. 1968 Mar;95(3):1187–1188. doi: 10.1128/jb.95.3.1187-1188.1968. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Robins P., Cairns J. Quantitation of the adaptive response to alkylating agents. Nature. 1979 Jul 5;280(5717):74–76. doi: 10.1038/280074a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Schendel P. F., Robins P. E. Repair of O6-methylguanine in adapted Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978 Dec;75(12):6017–6020. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.12.6017. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Singer B. The chemical effects of nucleic acid alkylation and their relation to mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. Prog Nucleic Acid Res Mol Biol. 1975;15(0):219–284. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Spizizen J. TRANSFORMATION OF BIOCHEMICALLY DEFICIENT STRAINS OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS BY DEOXYRIBONUCLEATE. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1958 Oct 15;44(10):1072–1078. doi: 10.1073/pnas.44.10.1072. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES