Isolation and characterization of a light-sensitive mutant of Escherichia coli K-12 with a mutation in a gene that is required for the biosynthesis of ubiquinone.

Cells with a novel mutation that is lethal when the cells are exposed to visible light were isolated from Escherichia coli K-12. The mutation was mapped at 63 min on the linkage map of the E. coli chromosome, and the gene, designated visB, was cloned and sequenced. From its map position and the evidence that the gene product VisB exhibits homology with flavin monooxygenase of Pseudomonas fluorescens, the visB gene was deduced to be identical to the ubiH gene, which is a gene required for the biosynthesis of ubiquinone and is thought to be similar to the gene for flavin monooxygenase. The photosensitive phenotype appears to be due to the accumulation of the substrate for the reaction catalyzed by the visB (ubiH) gene product because other mutations that block earlier steps in the biosynthesis of ubiquinone can reverse the photosensitivity. The accumulated intermediates may produce active species of oxygen in the mutant bacteria upon illumination by visible light, and these active oxygen species may cause the death of the cells by a mechanism similar to that associated with mutations in visA (hemH).