A new mutagenicity assay method for frameshift mutagens based on deleting or inserting a guanosine nucleotide in the beta-lactamase gene.

The conventional method of site-directed mutagenesis was used to develop two Salmonella strains, JK-1 and JK-2, for detecting frameshift mutagens. The JK-1 strain was derived from Salmonella typhimurium TA1537 strain transformed by a mutant construct. A guanosine nucleotide was inserted between nucleotide residues 312 and 313 of the beta-lactamase gene. The JK-2 strain was obtained by the same procedure, but a guanosine nucleotide in position 315 of the beta-lactamase gene was deleted. The strains were tested with ten frameshift mutagens and the revertants were selected by ampicillin resistance. Representative mutagens including 2-nitrofluorene (2-NF), 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF), 9-aminoacridine (9-AA), 2,7-diaminofluorene (2,7-DAF) and 2-methoxy-6-chloro-9-(3-(ethyl-2-chloro-ethyl)-aminopropylamino)acridine (ICR-170) were more potent in the JK-1 strain than the JK-2 strain, and the number of revertant colonies were dose related. Under the same conditions, the ampicillin test was more sensitive than the Ames test. Other types of compounds such as 2-methoxy-6-chloro-9-(2-chloroethylaminopropylamino)acridine (ICR-191), benzo[a]pyrene (BP), 4-nitroquinoline N-oxide (4-NQNO), hycanthone and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) were not as mutagenic to these new strains. The method is quite promising for studying certain specific frameshift mutagens, but more chemical mutagens should be tested to validate its applicability and reproducibility in general use.