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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1974 May;71(5):2048–2051. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.5.2048

A Conditional Lethal Mutant of Escherichia coli K12 Defective in the 5′ → 3′ Exonuclease Associated with DNA Polymerase I

E Bruce Konrad 1, I R Lehman 1
PMCID: PMC388383  PMID: 4600786

Abstract

A mutant strain of E. coli, initially identified by an abnormally high frequency of recombination, has been found to be defective in the 5′ → 3′ exonuclease associated with DNA polymerase I, but not in the polymerase activity. This defect is tolerated at 30°, but is lethal at 43°. Like other polymerase I mutants, the strain is unusually sensitive to methyl methanesulfonate and to ultraviolet irradiation; it is also unable to support the growth of phage λ defective in general recombination, and shows a reduced rate of joining of 10S “Okazaki fragments.” These results demonstrate that a functional DNA polymerase I is essential for normal growth and viability in E. coli K12.

Keywords: DNA synthesis, UV sensitivity, genetic recombination

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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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