Survival, deoxyribonucleic acid breakdown, and synthesis in Salmonella typhimurium as compared with Escherichia coli B strains.

Salmonella typhimurium LT-2 was compared with radioresistant (B/r) and radiosensitive (B(s-2)) strains of Escherichia coli in respect to the survival, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) breakdown, and DNA synthesis after X irradiation. It is shown that S. typhimurium LT-2 is about four times more sensitive than E. coli B/r but less sensitive than B(s-2). The DNA breakdown is in S. typhimurium LT-2 lower than the postirradiation breakdown of DNA in both E. coli strains and DNA synthesis proceeds in this bacterium in spite of a much lower survival, as in the radioresistant E. coli B/r.