Factors influencing the photodynamic action of benzo[a]pyrene on Escherichia coli.

Death of Escherichia coli resulted when a buffer suspension was exposed simultaneously to colloidal benzo[a]pyrene (BP) and 355-mmu illumination. Neither hydrocarbon nor illumination alone caused death; oxygen had to be present. The survival curve had a shoulder, and then death proceeded exponentially with time. Death rate was independent of temperature between 6 and 32 C. The duration of the shoulder, however, decreased slightly with increase in temperature. The shoulder was not due to delay in BP entering the cell. Death was influenced by the composition of the medium in which the cells were grown prior to illumination. The amount of BP bound to the cells was determined after three ethyl alcoholether extractions. Appreciable binding occurred in the presence of 355-mmu illumination with air, and relatively little binding occurred under nitrogen; very little binding occurred in the dark with nitrogen or air. At the outset, rate of binding under illumination with air was not temperature-dependent, but with time it became strongly temperature-dependent. Binding under illumination with nitrogen was temperature-independent. Bound BP was associated primarily with cell protein. Cells in growth medium resisted death and BP binding. At 21 and 32 C, deoxyribonucleic acid damage occurred during exponential death. No damage was detected at 21 and 32 C in the dark with BP, under illumination in absence of BP, or under illumination with BP in a nitrogen atmosphere.