Streptomycin-resistant mutant production in a continuous-flow UV mutation device.

A continuous-flow UV-induced mutation device which incorporates starting strain cultivation, UV irradiation and mutant reproduction was conceptualized and tested in this study using streptomycin resistance as an indicator of mutant production. For the experimental conditions employed and populations used, the mutation frequency for streptomycin resistance ranged from 10(-4) to 10(-5) cfu/ml. These mutation frequencies are comparable with conventional batch UV mutation methods and represent a gain of 3 orders of magnitude over the spontaneous mutation frequency.