UV-mutagenesis in Bacillus subtilis. VII. Mutability of recA, recB and recF strains]

UV-light induces reversions to threonine-independence in BD170 Rec+ cells, and does not induce them in isogenic strain BD241 recF. Reversions to methionine-independence are induced in cells GSY1028 recB, and are not in isogenic strain GSY1025 recA. It is possible to construct, with the use of transformation, a viable strain carrying mutations recF and su, the latter imparts threinine-independence to cells. Hence, the absence of UV-induced reversions in recF (and probably in recA) cells can not be explained by the lethal effect of joining, in one genome, two mutations each of which decreases a viability of bacteria. Formation of UV-induced forward mutations which provide additional growth requirements to bacteria is not disturbed in strains recA and recF. Experimental data allow to conclude that UV-induced mutagenesis is not a function of any of two known mechanisms of recombination which function in Bacillus subtilis cells.