Development of high sensitive umu test system: rapid detection of genotoxicity of promutagenic aromatic amines by Salmonella typhimurium strain NM2009 possessing high O-acetyltransferase activity.

A highly sensitive umu test system for the detection of carcinogenic/mutagenic aromatic amines has been developed utilizing a new tester strain, Salmonella typhimurium NM2009, possessing an elevated O-acetyltransferase (O-AT) level. NM2009 was constructed by subcloning the bacterial O-AT gene into a plasmid vector pACYC184 and introducing the plasmid into the original strain S. typhimurium TA1535/pSK1002 harboring an umuC'-'lacZ fusion gene. The system is based on the ability of DNA-damaging agents (genotoxins) to induce umuC gene expression and monitored by measuring the cellular beta-galactosidase activity evoked by the fusion gene. Twenty-two aromatic amine compounds including arylamines, aminoazo dyes, and heterocyclic aromatic amines were tested for inducibility of DNA damage after metabolic activation by rat liver S9 in strain NM2009 and the sensitivity was compared with those of the parent strain TA1535/pSK1002 and the O-AT-defective strain NM2000. NM2009 had about 400 times higher O-AT activity than the parent strain. It was found that NM2009 was much more sensitive to aromatic amines than other strains to induce umuC gene expression after metabolic activation; the chemicals which were extremely sensitive in strain NM2009 include 2-aminoanthracene, 2-aminofluorene, 2-acetylaminofluorene, benzidine, 6-aminochrysene, 2,4-diaminotoluene, 2,6-diaminotoluene, 1-naphthylamine, o-tolidine, 3-MeO-AAB, o-aminoazotoluene, Glu-P-1, Trp-P-1, MeA alpha C, A alpha C, MeIQ, MeIQx, and IQ. In contrast, Trp-P-2 and PhIP showed almost similar sensitivities in three tester strains used in this study. These results suggest that strain NM2009 with high O-acetyltransferase activity is very useful to detect the genotoxic activities of potential mutagenic aromatic amine compounds, which require metabolic activation via the cytochrome P-450/acetyltransferase system.