Photoreactivation of Escherichia coli after low- or medium-pressure UV disinfection determined by an endonuclease sensitive site assay

Photoreactivation of Escherichia coli after inactivation by a low-pressure (LP) UV lamp (254 nm), by a medium-pressure (MP) UV lamp (220 to 580 nm), or by a filtered medium-pressure (MPF) UV lamp (300 to 580 nm) was investigated. An endonuclease sensitive site (ESS) assay was used to determine the number of UV-induced pyrimidine dimers in the genomic DNA of E. coli, while a conventional cultivation assay was used to investigate the colony-forming ability (CFA) of E. coli. In photoreactivation experiments, more than 80% of the pyrimidine dimers induced by LP or MPF UV irradiation were repaired, while almost no repair of dimers was observed after MP UV exposure. The CFA ratios of E. coli recovered so that they were equivalent to 0.9-, 2.3-, and 1.7-log inactivation after 3-log inactivation by LP, MP, and MPF UV irradiation, respectively. Photorepair treatment of DNA in vitro suggested that among the MP UV emissions, wavelengths of 220 to 300 nm reduced the subsequent photorepair of ESS, possibly by causing a disorder in endogenous photolyase, an enzyme specific for photoreactivation. On the other hand, the MP UV irradiation at wavelengths between 300 and 580 nm was observed to play an important role in reducing the subsequent recovery of CFA by inducing damage other than damage to pyrimidine dimers. Therefore, it was found that inactivating light at a broad range of wavelengths effectively reduced subsequent photoreactivation, which could be an advantage that MP UV irradiation has over conventional LP UV irradiation.