Abstract
THE role of endogenous sulphydryl compounds (SH) as partial determinants of radio-resistance has been challenged in wild type and in radio-sensitive mutants of Micrococcus radiodurans and in cell-free radio-protective extracts prepared from the wild strain1,2. While agents such as p-hydroxymercuribenzoate (HMB) and iodoacetic acid (IAA) complex cellular sulphydryl groups and sensitize this cell to ionizing radiation3,4, it has been shown that both HMB and IAA suffer radiolytic decomposition and possibly poison the cell by a non-sulphydryl vector5,6. When HMB was used to titrate the endogenous SH of eleven bacterial strains, however, a linear relationship was discovered between the quantity bound and both the LD90 and D0 exposures7. Recent studies reveal (a) that M. radiodurans binds more HMB than expected from its larger mass, (b) that the change in HMB binding after both X-irradiation and heat exposure is similar, and (c) that this response differs from responses of more radio-sensitive bacteria such as Escherichia coli B/r and Sarcina lutea.
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FREEDMAN, M., FREEDMAN, P. & BRUCE, A. Distinctive Sulphydryl Responses in X-Irradiated and in Heat-treated Micrococcus radiodurans. Nature 224, 183–184 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/224183a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/224183a0
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