The mutagenicity of amino-derivatives of diphenyl ether herbicides in new Salmonella typhimurium YG tester strains

In this study, we examined the mutagenicity of four diphenyl ether herbicides and their amino derivatives in Salmonella typhimurium TA tester strains and YG tester strains. YG tester strains have been newly developed for sensitive detection of specific chemicals. S. typhimurium YG 1021, YG 1024, YG 1026 and YG 1029 strains are sensitive to mutagenic nitoroarenes and hydroxyamines. S. typhimurium YG 3003 is a strain that is sensitive to some oxidative mutagens. And S. typhimurium YG 7108 is useful for detection of mutagenic alkylating agents. As a result, each amino derivative of diphenyl ether herbicides is more mutagenic than its parent herbicide in S. typhimurium TA and YG tester strains with metabolic activation by S9 mixture. Moreover, S. typhimurium YG tester strains are more useful for highly sensitive detection of mutagens than S. typhimurium TA tester strains. We also examined the production of amino derivatives in a water environment from parent herbicides. It was clear that diphenyl ether herbicides rapidly transform to amino derivatives in a water environment.