Mutagenesis during transformation of Bacillus subtilis. II. An increase in chemically-induced mutations during competency

Mutagenesis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae: absence of error-prone repair

The lethal and mutagenic effects of various mutagens on Neisseria gonorrhoeae were investigated. Lethality studies demonstrated that N. gonorrhoeae was relatively sensitive to ethyl methanesulfonate, UV light, and methyl methanesulfonate. Although N. gonorrhoeae was readily mutated by ethyl methanesulfonate and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine for the three genetic markers assayed, no increase in the mutation frequency was observed for any of the selective markers after UV irradiation or methyl methanesulfonate treatment. These results suggest that N. gonorrhoeae lacks an error-prone repair mechanism.

Possible correlation between transformability and deficiency in error-prone repair

We have investigated the relationship between UV-induced mutability (as a measure of an error-prone repair process) and the genetic transformability of transformable and nontransformable bacterial strains. The data suggest a correlation between chromosomal transformability and a deficiency in an error-prone repair system in bacteria.