Summary
An adenine-arginine double auxotroph ofCandida albicans exhibits increased back mutation to arginine independence when cultivated in the presence of growth inhibiting levels of cytosine. Of the natural nucleic acid bases, only adenine or guanine relieve growth inhibition and mutation; adenine is more effective than guanine in relieving inhibition but less effective than guanine in preventing mutation. Previous studies have shown that cytosine renders adenine auxotrophs ofC. albicans purine deficient by competitively interfering with their utilization of exogenous adenine. The mutagenic effect of cytosine reported here is attributed to a cytosine induced cellular deficiency for guanine which favors the erroneous incorporation into replicating DNA of other nucleotides in place of the guanine nucleotide.
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Sarachek, A. Mutagenicity of cytosine for an adenine and arginine requiring strain of Candida albicans. Mycopathologia et Mycologia Applicata 26, 72–78 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02098592
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02098592