[Relationship between the presence of plasmid pKM101 and the frequency of spontaneous and induced mutations of different kinds].

Ames tester strains of Salmonella typhimurium containing plasmid pKM101 have been shown to be very sensitive to UV-induced base substitutions and frameshift mutations. Plasmid pKM101 mediates the ability for base substitutions through frameshift inducing mutagens and slightly enhances frameshift mutagenesis. For the agents mainly inducing base-pair substitutions, plasmid pKM101 is found to enhance slightly the rate of base-pair substitutions but not the rate of frameshift mutations.