| Abstract: | Abstract— The fraction of biological damage in isolated single-strand and double-strand forms of bac-teriophage DNA resulting from pyrimidine dimers following exposure to germicidal UV (254 nm) and UV-B (280-320. nm) radiation has been compared. Radiation from a Westinghouse FS-40 sunlamp filtered through a cellulose acetate sheet was used as the UV-B radiation source. Biological damage from pyrimidine dimers was determined by measuring the survival of the viral DNA with and without photoreactivation, an enzymatic process specific for repair of pyrimidine dimers. The same fraction of biological damage in the single strand and double–strand forms of φX174 DNA is repairable by photo-reactivation following exposures to germicidal UV and UV-B radiation. |
