[Genetic control of the RecF recombination pathway. II. Effect of recL- and uvrE- mutations]

It was found earlier that the effect of the uvrE- mutation on the yield of recombinants formed via RecF pathway of recombination was mainly due to the decreased viability of the recB-C-sbcB-uvrE- recipient. The results of the present paper show the uvrE- and recL- mutations reduce the recipient ability of the recB-C- sbcB- strains to the same extent. We were unable to find any evidence for complementation between the recL- and uvrE- mutations in transient as well as in stable uvrE-/recL- merozygotes. The recL152 as well as the uvrE502 mutation is lethal for the strains deficient in DNA polymerase I. Both recL- and uvrE- mutations reduce in the recB-C- sbcB- strains the probability of inheritance of the proximal non-selective donor markers as well as selective markers located close to the leading end of the donor chromosome. The former effect however could not be completely due to the latter.