Mutator Factor in Neisseria meningitidis Associated with Increased Sensitivity to Ultraviolet Light and Defective Transformation

Abstract

A variant of N. meningitidis was found to carry a mutator factor which endowed the bacteria with generalized genetic instability. The reversion frequencies of several biochemical mutants were increased up to 1,000 -fold when the factor was introduced. The factor is not unidirectional in preference, since the mutator induced mutants generally reverted with increased frequency in its presence. There could be found no indication of insufficient synthesis of nucleic acid precursors. Attempts to demonstrate an unusual mutagenic base incorporated in DNA were negative. Strains carrying the mutator factor had significantly increased sensitivity of UV light. A mutation to a more UV-resistant type coincided with a disappearance of the mutator property. The presence of the mutator factor in a competent strain resulted in a reduction of the transformation frequency to between 0.5 and 5% of that in the parental strain. A mutation to the more UV-resistant type resulted in simultaneous loss of the mutator property and reestablishment of a normal transformation efficiency. It was suggested that this mutator factor may represent a defect in the DNA repair mechanism, which is also of importance for genetic recombination. The mutator factor showed cotransformation with the locus for streptomycin resistance, but a true linkage could not be proved.