Radiation-sensitive pyrimidine auxotrophs of Ustilago maydis. I. Isolation and characterization of mutants.

The relationship between UV sensitivity and pyrimidine auxotrophy has been examined. Fourteen pyrimidine-requiring mutants have been classified on the basis of genetic complementation and utilization of biosynthetic intermediates and have been assigned to at least four loci. All the mutants studied were sensitive to UV, although the degree of sensitivity varied both between loci and amongst alleles at the same locus. A double mutant strain carrying pyrimidine mutants at two loci was only as sensitive to UV as the more sensitive of the singles. This suggests that both mutants are deficient in the same repair mechanism. Suppressor mutations which restored endogenous pyrimidine biosynthesis were isolated. These suppressors restored UV resistance in the presence of the original mutation. The results indicate that the UV sensitivity of these mutants is a direct result of pyrimidine auxotrophy and not to any secondary properties of the mutants.