The contribution of DNA repair pathways to fitness and fidelity during nitric oxide stress.

Pathogenic bacteria must evolve various mechanisms in order to evade the host immune response that they are infecting. One aspect of the primary host immune response to an infection is the production of an inflammatory effector component, nitric oxide (NO⋅). has uniquely evolved a diverse array of strategies to circumvent the inhibitory activity of nitric oxide. One such mechanism by which has evolved allows the pathogen to survive and maintain its genomic integrity in this environment. For instance, here, our results suggest that employs several DNA repair pathways to ensure replicative fitness and fidelity under NO⋅ stress. Thus, our study presents evidence of an additional strategy that allows to evade the cytotoxic effects of host NO⋅.