Inducible reactivation and mutagenesis of UV-irradiated bacteriophage P22 in Salmonella typhimurium LT2 containing the plasmid pKM101.

The inducible (Weigle) reactivation of UV-irradiated bacteriophage P22 has been examined on strains of Salmonella typhimurium with and without the mutagenesis-enhancing plasmid pKM101. A large inducible reactivation was observed in the plasmid-containing strain, but only a small response was observed in the strain lacking the plasmid. An increased frequency of clear-plaque mutants was detected among the survivors. The efficiencies of the plasmid-mediated and cellular repair processes have been determined. The kinetics of induction of the phage reactivation have been investigated. The relationship of the observed results to the inducible reactivation of UV-irradiated lambda in Escherichia coli and to error-prone repair is discussed.