Hycanthone as a specific frameshift mutagen in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Reversion of mutations of different molecular nature was studied after treatment with hycanthone in mild conditions (0.05--0.4 mM, 4 h in the dark, pH 7.2). The mutagen had a very low reversion activity on 3 missense and 4 nonsense mutations (2 UAA and 2 UAG), although it was very active on 3 frameshift mutations. Our data on intragenic reversion and frameshift suppressors indicate that hycanthone can induce both insertions and deletions.