Failure to Detect an Anti-mutagenic Effect of Chloramphenicol in Ultraviolet-treated Polar Cap Cells (early Germ Track)

is well established that chloramphenicol reduces the ultraviolet-induced 'Lutation rate in bacteria, as first reported by WITKIN (1956). In view of the importance of this discovery in its bearing on the mutational event, it was considered desirable to determine whether chloramphenicol had a similar effect in higher organisms, and in particular in Drosophila. Interest in the problem at hand is not in the chemical itself but in the broader question as to whether protein synthesis (which is prevented by chloramphenicol) is a necessary step in the mutational process. Preliminary results reported by us (1959) indicated that when chloramphenicol was applied to the polar caps of Drosophila (the early germ track) for a short interval after ultraviolet treatment of the polar caps and when in addition the developing flies were fed on chloramphenicol-containing food throughout their life span, it had no effect on the induced mutation rate.