Ultraviolet-Sensitive Mutator mutU4 of Escherichia coli Inviable with polA

Attempts to transduce the ultraviolet-sensitive mutator lesion mutU4 into strains deficient in deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase I (polA) were unsuccessful. Mutator recombinants were found when the polA recipient had first been reverted to Pol(+) by selection for resistance to methyl methanesulfonate. The inviability of the mutU4 polA double mutant was demonstrated by a reduction in the absolute number of transductants when the recipient was polA as compared with Pol(+), and selection was made for markers very close to mutU4. Double mutants containing mutU4 and polA4, which determines a cold-sensitive polymerase, were unable to grow at 24 C, the nonpermissive temperature.