Studies on the inhibition and mutation ofAspergillus nidulansby acridines

Abstract

A number of acridines have been tested for ability to inhibit conidia of strains ofAspergillus nidulans. The effectiveness of any one acridine in growth inhibition and killing involves interaction of genotype and conditions of treatment such as temperature, pH, treatment medium and light intensity. Mutant alleles which confer growth resistance to acriflavine are selective in their actions towards other acridines, may differ in their dominance relationships with different acridines and are even selective with regard to the conditions under which they confer acriflavine resistance. Certain pairs of acridines, used simultaneously, show additive effects, potentiation, or annulment by one of inhibition caused by the other.Some of these findings have been applied in a study of factors affecting acridine-induced mutation inAspergillusconidia. Under conditions which permit metabolism, acriflavine induces a high frequency of unstable morphological variants. One such variant has been shown to be a disomic. Using a system of reversion from auxotrophy to prototrophy, acriflavine-induced mutation has been obtained both with high light intensities and in the absence of light. In the latter case recombination as a feature of the mutation process is excluded.