“BLACK LIGHT” INACTIVATION OF TRANSFORMING DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID FROM HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE

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Abstract
The biological activity (intrinsic genetic markers or nitrous acid mutable regions) of transforming deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from Haemophilus influenzae has been inactivated by "black light" (BL) by two mechanisms (I) photodynamic action (oxygen-dependent) and (ii) "BL inactivation" (oxygen-independent). The BL inactivation is greater in denatured than in native DNA, and it is dependent on the pH. It does not depend on the temperature, and the damage produced is stable. The effective wave-length of inactivation is between 330 and 360 m[mu]. The BL inactivation is not reactivated by photoreactivating enzyme or nitrous acid. The BL and ultraviolet inactivations are additive, suggesting that the changes produced by BL and ultraviolet irradiation on transforming DNA are different. T2 phage was also inactivated by BL. The nature of the photochemical changes produced in DNA by BL is not known.