Since homologous directed repair has very low probability to occur in bacteria, can we somehow increase the probability by arresting cell division and inducing SOS response in bacteria in exposure to damaging agent in low concentration? What kind of substance can we use to induce SOS response? thank you.
Yes you can, using UV, chemicals, antibiotics (such as fluoroquinolones), or physical stress (such as high pressure). Not all bacteria have an SOS response ( e.g. S. pneumoniea, S. pyogenes, H. pylori) so check the organism your are working with.
In addition to Chistiane's answer above, I would like to refer you to the stress-induced mutagenesis literature. It has been shown very elegantly in bacteria that, when sub-lethal stress, such as starvation or oxidative stress is inflicted on e.coli, mutations arise in a pathway, which is believed to be homology dependent. You may read:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17917874. Hope this helps!!
Good luck..
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