Alkyl methane sulfonate mutation of diploid human lymphoblasts and Salmonella typhimurium.

Concentration dependence of mutation in equigenerational exposures to methyl, ethyl, propyl, and butyl methanesulfonates has been determined in diploid human lymphoblasts and Salmonella typhimurium. Forward mutation was measured at the hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase locus in human lymphoblasts and at the putative guanine phosphoribosyltransferase locus in S. typhimurium. Reverse mutation at the his G46 locus was also measured in S. typhimurium. This analysis and previous reports support the conclusion that S. typhimurium and mammalian cells are essentially equisensitive to the mutagenic effects of ethyl methanesulfonate when concentration and exposure time are taken into account. Comparison of forward and reverse mutation assays in S. typhimurium reveals no important differences in sensitivities for the four compounds studied.