IDENTIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MUTAGENS/CARCINOGENS:SPECIFICLOCUS ASSAYS IN NEUROSPORA

The measurement of specific-locus mutations in various eukaryotic organismshas been used as a mechanism to estimate the genetic consequences of humanexposure to environmental mutagens.Specific-iocus assays are usually confined tosingle genes and measure various types of genetic damage ranging from single base-pair substitutions to multilocus deletions.Not all such assays measure the samerange of genetic damage.Thus.different specific-locus assays may provide differentdata,both quantitative and qualitative.as a result of exposure to the sameenvironmental mutagen.The specific-locus assay in the ad-3 region of Neurosporacrassa measures genetic damage at 2 closely linked loci as well as other loci in thegenome.As a result.this assay permits a comprehensive evaluation of the types ofgenetic damage produced by different environmental mutagens.In this paper.thespectrum of genetic damage that can be detected in Neurospora is reviewed andcompared with other eukaryotic systems.

The measurement of specific-locus mutations in various eukaryotic organisms has been used as a mechanism to estimate the genetic consequences of human exposure to environmental mutagens. Specific-locus assays are usually confined to single genes and measure various types of genetic damage ranging from single base-pair substitutions to multilocus deletions. Not all such assays measure the same range of genetic damage. Thus, different specific-locus assays may provide different data, both quantitative and qualitative. as a result of exposure to the same environmental mutagen. The specific-locus assay in the ad-3 region of Neurospora crassa measures genetic damage at 2 closely linked loci as well as other loci in the genome. As a result, this assay permits a comprehensive evaluation of the types of genetic damage produced by different environmental mutagens. In this paper, the spectrum of genetic damage that can be detected in Neurospora is reviewed and compared with other eukaryotic systems.