Mutagenicity and recombinogenicity of daunomycin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The antineoplastic antibiotic daunomycin was tested for mutagenic and recombinogenic effects in haploid and diploid strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This antibiotic failed to induce mutations to lysine and histidine independence in the haploid strain, XV 185-14C, carrying the auxotrophic markers lysl-1 and hisl-7. On the contrary, daunomycin did induce aberrant colonies, including reciprocal products of mitotic crossing over in the diploid strain D7. The results suggest that while daunomycin may be recombinogenic, its mutagenic effects, if any, are either highly specific or negligible. The significance of these results in evaluating the mutagenic/carcinogenic potential of antitumor agents is discussed.