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Reconstruction in vivo of Irradiated Escherichia coli Deoxyribonucleic Acid; the Rejoining of Broken Pieces

Abstract

DNA is presumably the primary site at which radiation damage has biological consequences1. Although lesions in single strands can be repaired after ultra-violet exposure2,3, it has not been shown conclusively that X-ray damage to bacterial DNA can be repaired. In order to study the latter problem, we have devised a method for assaying long pieces of single stranded DNA in order to facilitate the detection of a small number of breaks in single strands induced by X-rays.

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MCGRATH, R., WILLIAMS, R. Reconstruction in vivo of Irradiated Escherichia coli Deoxyribonucleic Acid; the Rejoining of Broken Pieces. Nature 212, 534–535 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/212534a0

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