Spontaneous mutation frequencies in Salmonella: enhancement of G/C to A/T transitions and depression of deletion and frameshift mutation frequencies afforded by anoxic incubation.

Incubation of Salmonella typhimurium under anoxic conditions (0.1% oxygen or less) results in a substantial decrease in small (3-and 6-basepair) deletions in an A/T-rich region of the hisG gene in the hisG428 ochre mutant and also decreases the frequency of minus frameshift mutations in G/C-rich sequences in the his-D3052 and hisC3076 mutants. In contrast, the frequency of G/C-----A/T transition mutations increases substantially during anoxic growth of hisG46. Growth of revertants of strains carrying accessory deletions in the uvrB region of the Salmonella chromosome is drastically impaired on glucose minimal medium when oxygen partial pressures are below 0.1% oxygen.