Genetic defects in DNA repair system and enhancement of intergenote transformation efficiency in Bacillus subtilis Marburg

Mechanisms of inefficiency in heterospecies transformation were studied with a transformation system consisting of Bacillus subtilis 168TI (trpC2thy) as recipient and of DNA prepared from partially hybrid strains of B. subtilis which had incorporated trp+ DNA of B. amyloliquefaciens 203 (formerly, B. megaterium 203) in the chromosome (termed intergenote). The intergenote transformation was not so efficient as the corresponding homospecies transformation and the efficiency appeared to relate inversely with the length of heterologous portion in the intergenote. When a variety of ultraviolet light (UV) sensitive mutants, deficient in host-cell reactivation capacity, were used as recipients for the intergenote transformation, 2 out of 16 mutants exhibited significantly enhanced transformation efficiency of the trpC marker. Genetic studies by transformation showed that the trait relating to the enhancement of intergenote-transformation efficiency was always associated with the UV sensitivity, suggesting that these two traits are determined by a single gene. The efficiency of intergenote transformation was highly affected also by DNA concentration; the lower the concentration, the less the efficiency. When, however, the UV sensitive mutant was used as recipient, the effect of DNA concentration was largely diminished, suggesting the reduction of DNA-inactivating activity in the UV sensitive recipient. These results were discussed in relation to a possible excision-repair system selectively correcting the mismatched DNA in the course of intergenote transformation. (orig.)