Summary
The antimutagenic activity, i.e. the capacity to decrease the spontaneous mutation rate, of actinomycin and basic fuchsine was investigated. It was found that the minimal requirement for the antimutagenic activity of compounds forming complexes with DNA is their binding to the polynucleotides rather than their stabilizing them against thermal denaturation. It is proposed that these antimutagens act through an inhibition of the exonucleolytic removal of bases from DNA during transcription.
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Communicated by E. Witkin
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Puglisi, P.P. Antimutagenic activity of actinomycin D and basic fuchsine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Molec. Gen. Genet. 103, 248–252 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00273695
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00273695