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. 1987 Jan;84(2):421–423. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.2.421

Thymine-containing dimers as well as spore photoproducts are found in ultraviolet-irradiated Bacillus subtilis spores that lack small acid-soluble proteins.

B Setlow, P Setlow
PMCID: PMC304219  PMID: 3099295

Abstract

Dormant spores of a Bacillus subtilis mutant that lacks two major small, acid-soluble spore proteins are very sensitive to UV irradiation, which in spores generates about half the amount of thymine-containing dimers formed by comparable irradiation of vegetative cells. Irradiation of mutant spores also produces spore photoproducts, but again only about one-half the amount formed in comparably irradiated wild-type spores. These findings suggest that the high UV sensitivity of the mutant spores is due to the production of pyrimidine dimers, which are not found in UV-irradiated wild-type spores, and that the high level of small, acid-soluble proteins found in wild-type spores is directly involved in spore UV resistance by facilitating a conformational change in spore DNA, preventing pyrimidine dimer formation.

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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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