The occurrence of two types of synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid during normal growth in Bacillus subtilis
A study of the relative utilization of thymine and thymidine as precursors for DNA synthesis during normal growth in Bacillus subtilis showed that thymine serves preferentially as a precursor for ‘repair’ synthesis, whereas thymidine is used preferentially for ‘replicative’ synthesis. Further, evidence was obtained which suggests that during normal growth both ‘replicative’ and ‘repair’ DNA syntheses occur simultaneously. ‘Repair’ synthesis is distinguished not only on the basis of its preferential utilization of thymine but also by its selective inhibition by caffeine. ‘Replicative’ synthesis, however, is selectively inhibited by 6-(p-hydroxyphenylazo)-uracil. ‘Repair’ synthesis would seem to be a ‘pre-fork’ phenomenon and its inhibition is highly lethal to the cell.