Kinetics of recB-dependent repair: Relationship to post-UV inactivation of the prophage

By making use of the temperature-sensitive mutant recB270, we showed that the RecBCD enzyme is needed for repair between 1 and 4 h after UV exposure. recB-dependent prophage inactivation takes place in all dying cells during the same period of time. The kinetics of decrease in the yield of recombinants in phage-prophage crosses resemble those of prophage inactivation in UV-irradiated bacteria. This indicates that recombination processes (including site-specific recombination required for prophage excision) are blocked in cells destined to die. On the basis of our results, we suggest that a large fraction of damaged cells is rescued by the RecA-RecBCD recombination pathway. If repair is unsuccessful, RecA-RecBCD recombinaton intermediates persist in the irradiated cells leading to prophage inactivation. 27 refs.; 4 figs