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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Imaging Mismatch Repair and Cellular Responses to DNA Damage in Bacillus subtilis
Published on: February 8, 2010
Lack of ultraviolet mutagenesis in radiation-resistant bacteria
Abstract:
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation did not induce rifampicin-resistant mutants in populations of the taxonomically-related radiation-resistant bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans, D. radiopugnans, D. radiophilus and D. proteolyticus, although such mutants arose spontaneously at a low frequency and at a high frequency after treatment of cultures with N-nitroso compounds. The radiation-resistant bacteria Arthrobacter radiotolerans and P-30-A were also UV-immutable whereas the more radiation-sensitive Pseudomonas radiora was UV-mutable. We conclude that the radiation-resistant bacteria repair UV-induced DNA damage accurately and lack an error-prone pathway for the repair of such damage.
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