Deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis induced with ultraviolet light in Brij 58-treated Bacillus subtilis spores germinated in the presence of chloramphenicol.

The direct measurement of ultraviolet light-stimulated DNA synthesis in the permeable Bacillus subtilis cells was performed. Bacillus subtilis spores germinated in the presence of chloramphenicol were treated with Brij 58 and irradiated with ultraviolet light, and (3H)dTTP was incorporated into these cells by the DNA polymerase assay system. Characteristics of the incorporation were distinct from those into spores germinated in the absence of chloramphenicol and treated with Brij 58, in the respect that the former incorporation did not require ATP and only partially depended on the presence of all four deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates. The incorporation of (3H)dTTP into DNA was confirmed by CsCl density gradient centrifugation. A DNA polymerase I-deficient strain, JBl 49(59) had no (3H)sTTP incorporating activity induced by ultraviolet light irradiation when the germinated spores were treated with Brij 58. Analysis of alkaline sucrose gradient centrifugation revealed that fragmented DNA caused by ultraviolet light irradiation was rejoined to the size of DNA of non-irradiated cells by incubating irradiated cells in the DNA polymerase assay mixture containing NAD+. The results also suggested that a machinery of DNA repair probably pre-existed in the spore.