Billen, Daniel (University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and
Tumor Institute, Houston, Tex.), and Roger Hewitt. Influence of
starvation for
methionine and other
amino acids on subsequent bacterial
deoxyribonucleic acid replication. J. Bacteriol. 92:609-617. 1966.-A study has been made of the subsequent replicative fate of
deoxyribonucleic acid (
DNA) synthesized during
amino acid starvation by several multiauxotrophic strains of Escherichia coli. Using radioisotopic and density labels and a procedure whereby total cellular
DNA is analyzed, we have confirmed and extended a recent report that the
DNA made during
amino acid starvation behaves anomalously during subsequent DNA replication. When
5-bromouracil (BU) serves as the density lable, 40% or more of the
DNA synthesized during
starvation will subsequently fail to replicate during three cell generations. Selective
amino acid effects were noted. In two
methionine-requiring bacteria,
methionine deprivation appeared to be of singular importance in influencing the subsequent replicative fate of the
DNA made in its absence. When a non-BU density label (N(15), C(13)) was utilized, the effects of
amino acid starvation were less obvious. Although the
DNA synthesized during complete
amino acid starvation in a
methionine-requiring E. coli was subsequently more slowly replicated, most of the
DNA was finally duplicated during three generations of growth. If
methionine was present during
starvation for other required
amino acids, the subsequent replication rate of the
DNA synthesized during this time was more nearly normal, and complete replication was observed. The results have been interpreted as indicating that
DNA synthesized during
amino acid starvation, and especially during
methionine starvation, is somehow altered, and that BU substitution for
thymine may interfere with the restoration of such
DNA to its replicative state.