Biopolymers and cell. 2001; 17 (5): 406 - 410

Effect of Phuseolu* vulgarly isolectius on spontaneous mutability of Bacillus subtilis rec and rec strains

I. S. Karpova, N. V. Koretskaya, T. N. Tykhonova, O. V. Pidpala, L. L. Lukash

The Bacillus subtilis strain SB25 and its recombination deficient derivative recPI49 are sensitive to reveal the different effects of Phaseolus vulgaris isolectins (PHA) on the survival and mutability of bacteria. These effects depend on the lectin structure and molecular organization, its concentration, the marker under study and genotype of test-bacteria (repair-proficient or deficient). PHA-L has no significant effects on this system; PHA-E demonstrates high cytotoxic properties; PHA-P preparation which contains all possible combinations of L-type and E-type subunits influences the survival and significantly — the number of trp but not his revertants. The recombination-deficient strain recP149 is almost insensitive to PHA-P addition indicating that the repair process is necessary for the final genetic effect. B. subtilis and its rec derivatives are suitable not only for the mutagenicity screening but also for further study of the lectin-protein and lectin-DNA interactions and their genetic consequences for living cells.