Loss of an essential function of Escherichia coli by deletions in the thyA region.

In an attempt to obtain deletions in the thyA gene, an abnormal lysogen of lambda having the prophage inserted between the thyA and lysA genes was induced, and the surviving cured cells were examined for Thy(-) and Lys(-) mutants. In nearly 10,000 cured cells, 184 Lys(-) but no Thy(-) mutants were found. At the same time, the induced lambda phage contained an approximately equivalent number of lambdathyA(+) and lambdalysA(+) transducing particles.

Intragenic complementation between temperature-sensitive mutants of gene 42 (dCMP hydroxymethylase) of bacteriophage T4.

Interallelic complementation between certain temperature-sensitive mutants of gene 42 of bacteriophage T4 was demonstrated by measuring the incorporation of labeled thymine into DNA.

Direct participation of dCMP hydroxymethylase in synthesis of bacteriophage T4 DNA.

In order to retain in an in situ system the control mechanisms involved in synthesis of bacteriophage T4 DNA, infected cells were made permeable to nucleotides by plasmolysis with concentrated sucrose. Such preparations use exogenous deoxyribonucleotides to synthesize T4 phage DNA. As has been observed with in vivo studies, DNA synthesis was drastically reduced in plasmolyzed preparations from cells infected by amber mutants of genes 1, 32, 41, 42, 43, 44, or 45.

Mutagenic effect of temperature-sensitive mutants of gene 42 (dCMP hydroxymethylase) of bacteriophage T4.

Certain temperature-sensitive mutants of gene 42 of bacteriophage T4 increase the reversion rates of some rII mutants in the same genome by about 4 to 10 times. This effect was usually found at 34 C, an intermediate permissive temperature, but not at 28 C.

Effect of the folic acid analogue, trimethoprim, on growth, macromolecular synthesis, and incorporation of exogenous thymine in Escherichia coli.

The effect of trimethoprim [2,4-diamino-5(2',4',5'trimethoxybenzyl)-pyrimidine] in the presence of thymine on Escherichia coli B temperature-sensitive and non-temperature-sensitive Thy(') strains and a phosphodeoxyribomutase-negative mutant was studied. The inhibitory effect of 5 mug of trimethoprim per ml on the growth of E. coli B was not overcome by thymine, thymidine, or thymidylate even in the presence of one-carbon metabolites and related metabolites.

Characteristics of the deo operon: role in thymine utilization and sensitivity to deoxyribonucleosides.

Inability to grow on deoxyribonucleosides as the sole carbon source is characteristic of deo mutants of Escherichia coli. Growth of deoC mutants, which lack deoxyribose 5-phosphate aldolase, is reversibly inhibited by deoxyribonucleosides through inhibition of respiration. By contrast, deoB mutants are not sensitive to deoxyribonucleosides, and deoxyribose 5-phosphate aldolase and thymidine phosphorylase are present at normal levels but are not inducible by thymidine.