Quantitative studies of the mutagenesis of Toxoplasma gondii

The induction of mutants resistant to 5-fluorodeoxyuridine (FUDR) was used to measure the efficiency of various physical and chemical mutagens on extracellular and intracellular Toxoplasma gondii. The frequency of resistant mutant was measured by plaque assay in human fibroblast cultures in the presence and absence of FUDR. When considered as a function of lethality, the most efficient mutagenesis was obtained with nitrosoguanidine treatment of extracellular parasites and with ethylmethane sulfonate treatment of actively growing intracellular parasites. Each of these treatments increased the frequency of FUDR-resistant mutants from less than one to more than 200 per million parasites. Ultraviolet irradiation, X-rays, and the alkylating mustard ICR-191 also induced FUDR-resistant mutants in a dose-dependent fashion.