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. 1971 Jun;106(3):797–801. doi: 10.1128/jb.106.3.797-801.1971

Auxotroph Accumulation in Deoxyribonucleic Acid Polymeraseless Strains of Escherichia coli K-121

Claire M Berg a
PMCID: PMC248694  PMID: 4934065

Abstract

Spontaneous auxotrophs are found with high frequency in several strains of Escherichia coli K-12 deficient in Kornberg deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase. These include amino acid-, vitamin-, purine-, and pyrimidine-requiring strains. Although this was suggestive evidence that these strains might be mutators, reconstruction experiments demonstrate that auxotrophs possess a selective advantage over prototrophs in the same culture. Thus, despite the high frequency of auxotrophs in polymerase-deficient strains, it is not yet clear whether they have elevated mutation rates.

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Selected References

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

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