ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION-INDUCED MUTABILITY OF uvrD3 STRAINS OF ESCHERICHIA COLI B/r AND K-12: A PROBLEM IN ANALYZING MUTAGENESIS DATA

Abstract— The involvement of the uvrD gene product in UV-induced mutagenesis in Escherichia coli was studied by comparing wild-type and uvrA or uvrB strains with their uvrD derivatives in B/r and K-12(W3110) backgrounds. Mutations per survivor (reversions to prototrophy) were compared as a function of surviving fraction and of UV fluence. While recognizing that both methods are not without problems, arguments are presented for favoring the former rather than the latter method of presenting the data when survival is less than 100%. When UV-induced mutation frequencies were plotted as a function of surviving fraction, the uvrD derivatives were less mutable than the corresponding parent strains. The B/r strains exhibited higher mutation frequencies than did the K-12(W3110) strains. A uvrB mutation increased the mutation frequency of its parental K-12 strain, but a uvrA mutation only increased the mutation frequency of its parental B/r strain at UV survivals greater than ˜ 80%. Both the uvrA and uvrB mutations increased the mutation frequencies of the uvrD strains in the B/r and K-12 backgrounds, respectively. Rather different conclusions would be drawn if mutagenesis were considered as a function of UV fluence rather than of survival, a situation that calls for further work and discussion. Ideally mutation efficiencies should be compared as a function of the number of repair events per survivor, a number that is currently unobtainable.