Identification of Genes Associated with Sensitivity to Ultraviolet A (UVA) Irradiation by Transposon Mutagenesis of Vibrio parahaemolyticu

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is used to disinfect water and food and can be classified as UVA (detected at wavelengths 320–400 nm), UVB (280–320 nm), and UVC (<280 nm). We developed a method for UVA sterilization of equipment with a UVA-light-emitting diode (LED); however, a high rate of fluence was needed to promote pathogen inactivation. The aim of this study was to identify genes associated with UVA sensitivity with the goal of improving UVA-LED-mediated bactericidal activity. We constructed a transposon-mutant library of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and selected six mutants with high sensitivity to UVA irradiation. Genes associated with this phenotype include F-type H+-transporting ATPases (atp), as well as those involved in general secretion (gsp), and ubiquinone and terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis (ubi). Gene complementation resulted in decreased sensitivity to UVA-LED. The atp mutants had lower intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentrations than the wild-type treatment, with 20 mM L-serine resulting in elevated ATP concentrations and decreased sensitivity to UVA-LED. The gsp mutants exhibited high levels of extracellular protein transport and the ubi mutants exhibited significantly different intracellular concentrations of ubiquinone-8. Taken together, our results suggest that the protein products of the atp, gsp, and ubi genes may regulate sensitivity to UVA irradiation.

内容要旨・審査要旨・論文本文の公開
本論文は，著者Miki Maetani-Yasuiの学位論文として提出され，学位審査・授与の対象となっている。

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