Base Substitution Spectra of Nalidixylate Resistant Mutations Induced by Monochromatic Soft X and 60Co γ-rays in Bacillus subtilis Spores

Bacillus subtilis spores were exposed to three types of photons, monochromatic soft X-rays with the energy corresponding to the absorption peak of phosphorus K-shell electron (2,153 eV) and with the slightly lower energy (2,147 eV), and 60Co gamma-rays. From the irradiated spores, 233 mutants exhibiting nalidixic acid resistance were isolated, and together with 94 spontaneous mutants, the sequence changes in the 5'-terminal region of the gyrA gene coding for DNA gyrase subunit A were determined. Among eighteen alleles of the gyrA mutations, eight were single-base substitutions, nine were tandem double-base substitutions, and one was a double substitution skipping a middle base pair. About 6% of the radiation-induced mutations were tandem double-base substitutions, whereas none was observed among the spontaneous ones. Among spontaneous mutations, A:T and G:C pairs were equally subjected to mutations, whereas the substitutions from G:C pairs and those to A:T pairs predominated among those induced with soft X-rays. The peak-energy X-rays were more effective in killing and causing mutations than the low-energy X-rays, however, there seemed no base-change events uniquely attributable to phosphorus K-shell absorption.