Azide-induced mutagenesis in gram-negative bacteria is recA-and lexA-independent.

Azide-induced mutagenesis was investigated in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. Azide was highly effective in inducing mutation in uvrB, uvrB recA and uvrB recB mutants of S. typhimurium. The mutagenic effect of azide was also observed in uvrA lexA mutants of E. coli K12 and E. coli B/r. These results suggest that azide-induced mutagenesis is due to mis-replication of DNA.