Summary
In the strain ad 3A 38701 inos 37401, UV usually produces about twice as many inositol-as adenine-reversions. We have shown previously that this inositol-specificity of UV can be reversed into adenine-specificity by pre- or post-treatment with low doses of the adenine-specific DEB. We now have tested two more adenine-specific mutagens, nitrous acid (NA) and a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and formaldehyde (HF) and one inositolspecific mutagen nitrosoethylurethane (NEU) for interaction with UV. The former two substances behaved like DEB in reversing the inositol-specificity of UV when given as pre-or post-treatment. Pre-treatment with NEU always enhanced the frequency of inositol-reversions beyond additivity. At low doses, it also enhanced the frequency of adenine-reversions. The results are discussed in relation to mutagen specificity. They indicate that specificity may arise from the effects of treatment on cellular events in any one of the three major parts of the mutational pathway: repair, expression, growth of completed mutants into clones.
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Communicated by H. Böhme
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Auerbach, C., Ramsay, D. Analysis of a case of mutagen specificity in Neurospora crassa . Molec. Gen. Genet. 117, 1–13 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00268831
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00268831