Thymineless Death in Escherichia Coli in Various Assay Systems: Viability Determined in Liquid Medium

Overview

Journal J Bacteriol

Publisher American Society for Microbiology

Specialty Microbiology

Date 1973 Apr 1

PMID 4572711

Citations 8

Authors

H Nakayama

J L Couch

Affiliations

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Abstract

Thymineless death has been studied in four different Thy(-) strains of Escherichia coli by using various assay methods including conventional plating techniques as well as one performed entirely in liquid medium. Plating on L agar resulted in a greater loss in viability than the other assay methods, but this extrasensitivity of starved cells to L-agar plating quickly disappeared upon readdition of thymine to the starved cultures. This indicated that cellular damage responsible for the additional killing on L agar is reversible. The results obtained by three other assay methods, the liquid assay, plating on nutrient agar, or plating on tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane-minimal agar, did not differ significantly from each other with all strains tested except strain JG 151. In this strain thymineless death was much faster when assayed in the liquid system than by plating. It is suggested that thymineless death detected on nutrient or minimal agar is not a result of plating, but that the lethal event actually occurs during the period of thymine starvation.

Citing Articles

A balanced perspective on unbalanced growth and thymineless death.

Hanawalt P Front Microbiol. 2015; 6:504.

PMID: 26097468 PMC: 4456962. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00504.

Isolation and genetic characterization of a thymineless death-resistant mutant of Escherichia coli K12: identification of a new mutation (recQ1) that blocks the RecF recombination pathway.

Nakayama H, Nakayama K, Nakayama R, Irino N, Nakayama Y, HANAWALT P Mol Gen Genet. 1984; 195(3):474-80.

PMID: 6381965 DOI: 10.1007/BF00341449.

recA+ gene-dependent regulation of a uvrD::lacZ fusion in Escherichia coli K12.

Nakayama K, Irino N, Nakayama H Mol Gen Genet. 1983; 192(3):391-4.

PMID: 6361489 DOI: 10.1007/BF00392180.

Effects of pantolactone and butyrolactone on the pleiotropic phenotypes of lon mutants and on thermal induction of the SOS phenomena in a tif mutant of Escherichia coli K12.

Nakayama H, Nakayama K, Nakayama R, Kato Y Arch Microbiol. 1982; 132(4):308-12.

PMID: 6217795 DOI: 10.1007/BF00413380.

Thymineless mutagenesis in Escherichia coli.

Deutch C, Pauling C J Bacteriol. 1974; 119(3):861-7.

PMID: 4605383 PMC: 245692. DOI: 10.1128/jb.119.3.861-867.1974.

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