Abstract
1. Actinomycin D failed to raise the mutation rate and did not cause chromosome loss although it induces chromatid breakage and translocations in human cells in culture. 2. Mitomycin C, an alkylating agent, caused preferential killing of the treated male larvae (somatic damage), chromosome loss, and sex-linked recessive lethals. 3. Proflavin was not mutagenic or only slightly so and did not kill treated ♂ ♂ larvae preferentially. The non-disjunction rate was slightly increased. 4. Simultaneous exposure of the larvae to proflavin and caffeine eliminated the proflavin-induced increase in non-disjunction. 5. Caffeine treatment ofDrosophila larvae caused differential mortality of the treated larvae (preferential killing of maleDrosophila). It induced X-chromosome loss and sexlinked recessive lethals after treatment of female larvae. The effect on males was not tested. The non-disjunction rate following caffeine treatment was somewhat reduced. 6. The differential mortality ofDrosophila larvae after exposure to mutagenic agents can be used for the preliminary screening of agents which might be mutagenic and are used by man, as was already proposed byOster. 7. These results are discussed in relation to parallel studies on chromosome breakage by the same substances in human cells in culture.
Published Version
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