| Abstract: | The two types of mutant strains which show resistance to T-even phage infection have been isolated and been shown to have either a higher or lower ratio of dTDP-sugar to dTTP than that of the parent strains. The one with a higher ratio of dTDP-sugar to dTTP than the parents has a large dTDP-sugar pool and small dTTP pool, and a high level of dTDPG pyrophosphorylase activity. The other one, with a lower ratio of dTDP-sugar to dTTP than the parents, has a small dTDP-sugar pool and large dTTP pool, and a low or deficient level of this enzyme activity. They form an entirely mucoid colony in the synthetic agar plate. Mutant cells (Ter-6 and Ter-21) which have deficient dTDPG pyrophosphorylase activity show 2 -- 3 times higher activity of UDPG pyrophosphoyrlase than that of parent cells. The dTDPG pyrophosphorylase-deficient mutants (Ter-15 and Ter-21) have a 3 -- 4 times higher concentration of dTTP and a faster rate of DNA synthesis and cell division than those of parent strains in growth with external thymine. The dTDPG pyrophosphorylase constitutive mutant (Ter-4) has a 0.5 -- 0.33 smaller dTTP pool and a slower rate of DNA synthesis and cell division than those of parent cells grown in the same medium. In the Ter-15 and Ter-21 mutants, the intracellular dTTP-dependent DNA synthesis rapidly disappeared in thymine suboptimal concentration, but the Ter-4 mutant maintained its dTTP-dependent DNA synthesis over a 20 muM concentration of external thymine. In high concentration (100 muM) of external thymidine, the thymidine effects on the intracellular dTTP concentration do not significantly appear in these enzyme-deficient mutants (Ter-15 and Ter-21). Also, the concentration of intracellular dTTP in the cell growth with external thymidine is 2.5 times greater than that with external thymine in these enzyme-deficient mutants (Ter-15 and Ter-21). |
