Extreme Mutation Hotspot in Bacteria Discovered: Study Links High Mutation Rates to Transcriptional Activation

Max Planck researchers discovered a 5,000-fold increase in the mutation rate in the genome of *Pseudomonas fluorescens*.

The mutation regularly occurred in the promoter region of the *rpoS* gene and was promoted by its activity.

Suppressing the *rpoS* promoter reduced the mutation rate by a factor of 60.
This suggests that similar mutation hotspots could exist in other genes and bacterial species.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft