, 2002). Escherichia coli has served as the primary model in virtually all fundamental aspects of microbiology including mutagenesis and evolution. However, recent advances in the sequencing and annotation of more than a thousand of bacterial genomes have revealed that E. coli is rather exceptional

due to BIBF 1120 price its DNA polymerases and DNA repair enzymes (Erill et al., 2006; Shuman & Glickman, 2007; Goosen & Moolenaar, 2008; Ambur et al., 2009). For example, E. coli is one of the rare organisms harboring DNA polymerase Pol V genes in its chromosome and using the DNA methylation-dependent MMR system (Table 1). Also, the ecological distribution of E. coli is more limited. Therefore, in order to provide a broader picture about the mechanisms of mutagenesis in bacteria, the aim of this review is to discuss the results of the recent studies of stationary-phase mutagenesis in other microorganisms, by focusing on mutational processes in pseudomonads, and to compare these mechanisms with those discovered in E. coli. Because elimination of DNA repair pathways

often increases the rates of stationary-phase mutations, certain endogenous DNA lesions must accumulate in resting cells and, if not repaired, cause mutations. The greatest danger click here appears to be oxidative damage and alkylation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are constantly generated as byproducts of aerobic metabolism and exposure to various natural and synthetic agents (e.g.

David et al., 2007). Importantly, there is a connection between the action of antibiotics and the production of ROS in bacterial cells. Bacteriocidal Hydroxychloroquine concentration antibiotics from three major classes, the quinolone norfloxacin, the β-lactam drug ampicillin and aminoglycoside kanamycin, regardless of the drug–target interaction, stimulate hydroxyl radical formation in bacteria (Kohanski et al., 2007). Additionally, damage of a bacterial cell membrane by aromatic organic solvents, such as phenol and toluene, causes oxidative stress; this is observed as a reduction in electron transport chain activity and an increase in hydrogen peroxide production (Santos et al., 2004; Domínguez-Cuevas et al., 2006). As already mentioned above, Pseudomonas species and many other soil bacteria have the potential to degrade a wide range of aromatic hydrocarbons. They can also rapidly evolve the capacity to degrade newly synthesized xenobiotics. For instance, this scenario has taken place in the formation of pathways for the degradation of nitroaromatic and chloroaromatic compounds that have been in nature only for a short time (Johnson et al., 2002; van der Meer & Sentchilo, 2003; Trefault et al., 2004; Symons & Bruce, 2006). Thus, due to their potential mutagenic effects caused by the production of ROS, the aromatic compounds would facilitate the evolution of new enzymes. This possibility needs further examination.