Disruption analysis of DR1420 and/or DR1758 in the extremely radioresistant bacterium

The extremely radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans encodes two genes that are homologous to those involved in bacterial lysine biosynthesis. In lysine biosynthesis, these genes are involved in the aminoadipate pathway and the diaminopimelate (DAP) pathway. DR1420 is homologous to lysZ, which is essential for bacterial lysine biosynthesis via the aminoadipate pathway, and DR1758 is homologous to lysA, which is essential for lysine biosynthesis via the DAP pathway. In this study, DR1420 and/or DR1758 were disrupted. Each disruptant of DR1420 and DR1758, and of DR1420 or DR1758 grew in a minimal medium, as did the wild-type. These results show that D. radiodurans performs lysine biosynthesis in a unique way