Para-aminobenzoic acid inhibits a set of SOS functions in Escherichia coli K12

PABA - Vitamin H1 of group B, has obtained increasing fundamental interest as a very potent natural antimutagen after a series of our publications since 1979. In the first set of our experiments, we studied PABA in the assays with the alkylating agent N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU). Mutagenic efficiency of this agent was suppressed up to 10-fold when PABA was administered into Escherichia coli cells concurrently with the mutagen or prior to the mutagenic treatment. NMR spectrometric and UV-spectrophotometric measurements did not reveal an interaction between the direct acting MNU and PABA, typical for some N-nitroso compounds and phenolics. PABA suppressed the error-prone DNA repair pathway induced by UV-irradiation. PABA decreased MNU-induced phage lambda lysogenic induction more than two orders of magnitude. PABA inhibited the thermal shift up to 400-fold in phage lambda from the permissive to non-permissive temperature in E. coli mutant tif-1 and decreased about two-fold W-reactivation of UV-damaged phage lambda. Chloramphenicol treatment of the cells just after the mutagenic treatment prevented the occurrence of PABA specific activity. The results suggest that PABA affects the SOS DNA repair pathway and the mutagenic response of E. coli. PABA appears to be an effective bioantimutagen reducing mutagenesis by modulating the error-prone DNA repair (SOS) response.