The Mutagenicity of Some Carcinogenic Compounds for Escherichia Coli.

F the many substances that have been found to be mutagenic several are 0 also carcinogenic and considerable evidence has been accumulating to indicate a relationship between these two properties. Nitrogen and sulfur mustards were shown by AUERBACH and ROBSON (1944) to be mutagenic for Drosophila, a finding which has been confirmed by DEMEREC (1947a,b), BURDETTE (1952) and others. Nitrogen mustard was found to be mutagenic for Neurospora by BONNER (1946) and for Escherichia coli by TATUM (1946) and BRYSON (1948). Sulfur mustard is also mutagenic for Neurospora as demonstrated by HOROWITZ, HOULAHAN, HUNGATE and WRIGHT (1946). That the mustards are also carcinogenic has been shown by BOYLAND and HORNING (1949), HESTON (1949, 1950), and GRIFFIN, BRANDT and TATUM (1951). Other carcinogens that have been found to be mutagenic include : 20-methylcholanthrene-endosuccinic acid, shown to be iiiutagenic for Neurospora by TATUM (1947) ; and chrysene, shown to be mutagenic for yeast by MITRA and SUBRAMANIAM (1950). LATARJET (1948) and LATARJET, ELIAS and BUU-HOI (1949) reported the mutagenicity of the water-soluble carcinogen 1,2,5,6-dibenzanthracene-~+ endosuccinate for E . coli. The results of the latter study suggested a correlation between carcinogenicity and mutagenicity in that ethyl carbamate was highly carcinogenic and highly mutagenic, while propyl carbamate and isopropyl carbamate were less strongly carcinogenic and less strongly mutagenic, and butyl carbamate was neither carcinogenic nor mutagenic. BARRATT and TATUM (1951), using Tween SO as a solvent, reported methylcholanthrene, 9,lO-dimethylI ,2-benzanthracene, and 1,2,5,6-dibenzanthracene to increase the mutation frequency in Neurospora 4-fold, m’-methyl-p-dimethylaminoazobenzene, and 4’-amino-2,3-azotoluene to increase it 3-fold, and 4-dimethylaminostilbene and acetylaininofluorene to be weaker mutagens or to be inactive. They found all these substances to be much less active than nitrogen mustard and radiations. LATAR JET ( 1948) had been unable to demonstrate mutagenicity of methylcholanthrene for E . coli. MAISIN (1951) and MAISIN, LAMBERT and