Azide mutagnesis. In vitro studies

Metabolic activation of the mutagen azide in biological systems

Inorganic azide (N3-) mutagenicity is mediated through a metabolically synthesized organic azide, L-azidoalanine (N3-CH2-CH(-NH2)-COOH). L-Azidoalanine appears to be formed by the action of O-acetylserine (thiol)-Lyase (EC 4.2.99.8) using O-acetylserine and azide as substrates. In both plants and bacteria tested, azide substitutes for the natural substrate sulfide (S2-) in this reaction. Azide (L-azidoalanine) mutagenesis is highly attenuated by a deficiency in the excision of UV-like DNA damage (uvr-). Thus a premutation lesion recognizable by the bacterial excision-repair enzymes must be formed. Mutagenesis appears to proceed from this by 'direct mispairing' pathway. Azide (L-azidoalanine) mutagenicity is highly specific and involves a stereoselective process, but the molecular nature of the specificity has not been determined.

Lack of induction of single-strand breaks in mammalian cells by sodium azide and its proximal mutagen

The mutagenicity of sodium azide in both higher plants and bacteria is well documented. However, in mammalian cells, research on the effects of azide on gene mutations has produced conflicting results. Furthermore, no research has been conducted on the effects of azide and its proximal mutagen (mutagenic metabolite) on DNA single-strand breaks. Experiments were designed to overcome this lack of information on azide mutagenicity and to evaluate the potential hazard of azide exposure to man. Chinese hamster V79 cells were treated with either azide or its proximal mutagen(s) for 2 or 6 h, respectively, and analyzed by alkaline elution for single-strand breaks. The data showed that neither azide nor the proximal mutagen(s) induced single-strand DNA breaks or DNA-protein cross-links. Therefore it appears that neither azide nor its proximal mutagen(s) interact directly with DNA and this suggests that azide may be an indirect-acting mutagen. Furthermore, this lack of interaction with DNA may account for azide's lack of carcinogenicity.

The effects of sodium azide on mammalian cells cultivated in vitro

Sodium azide acted cytostatically to cytotoxically on 2 lines of mammalian cells. After application of the substance in an acid environment the highest cytostatic effect was noted. The results of the DNA-synthesis inhibition test suggest that sodium azide does not damage the DNA of the observed fibroblasts with any of the tested modes of application. In Chinese hamster cells neither 20-h treatment in medium nor 60-min treatment in an acid environment gave rise to significantly increased occurrence of 6-TG-resistant mutations. The results of the DNA-synthesis inhibition test, as well as the mutagenicity testing, do not suggest the possibility that treatment with sodium azide might induce DNA damage in the observed human and Chinese hamster cells. The cytostatic effect of sodium azide on the fibroblasts studied is probably not accompanied by a genotoxic effect.

Effects of pH on the mutagenicity of sodium azide in Neurospora crassa and Salmonella typhimurium

Sodium azide at various pH values did not cause a significant increase in the frequency of forward mutation above the control frequency at the adenine-3 (ad-3) region in resting conidia and in conidia from growing cultures of heterokaryons 12 and 59 of Neurospora crassa. Conidia from ad-3 mutants were plated with sodium azide at various pH values, and no obvious increase in reverse mutation above the controls was observed. Data are presented showing that sodium azide at pH 3 is inactivating conidia by interacting with the cytoplasma rather than the nucleus, and this may be the primary reasons that no mutation at the ad-3 region was detected. The dependence of sodium azide mutagenicity on pH was investigated in histidine-requiring mutants of Salmonella typhimurium using a suspension test. There were no significant differences in the reversion frequencies among the pH values (3-8) tested. Thus, no pH dependence is associated with sodium azide mutagenicity, nor are growth and/or DNA replication required for mutagenicity by sodium azide, in S. typhimurium.

Mutagenesis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by sodium azide activated in barley

Concentrated dialysate of the extract prepared from barley seeds treated with sodium azide increased up to 100--200 times the frequency of forward mutations to cycloheximide resistance in the excision-deficient UV-sensitive heploid strain rad2-5 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, when applied to growing cells in complete medium at pH 4.2. Only a slight increase of mutation frequency (less than 4 times) was found in the haploid RAD+ strain treated in the same way as well as in haploid RAD+ and rad2-5 strains treated directly by sodium azide. In contrast with the barley-activated sodium azide, UV irradiation was more effective in the induction of cycloheximide resistance in the RAD+ strain than in the RAD2-5 mutant. The dialysate from azide-treated barley seeds, applied at both pH 4.2 and pH 9, also significantly increased the frequency of locus-specific suppressor mutations to isoleucine independence and -- to a lesser extent -- reversions and/or gene conversions in the trp5 locus in growing cells of the diploid strain D7. The dialysate was also mutagenic in resting cells of strains D7 and rad2-5 but with lower effectiveness.

Sodium azide-induced mutagenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Sodium azide (0.5--2.0 X 10(-5) M), applied for 24 h on cells growing in complete medium, increased up to 26 times the frequency of reversions and locus-specific suppressor mutations of allele ilv1-92 in diploid strain D7 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Similarly, it enhanced the frequency of reversions and/or mitotic gene conversions of alleles trp5-12/trp5-27 up to 19 times. Reconstruction experiments showed that the increase of mutations in complete medium was not due to a selection of prototrophic types under growth conditions and, therefore, that sodium azide acts as a weak mutagen in S. cerevisiae under growth conditions at a low pH. No mutagenic or convertogenic effect was observed when azide was applied to resting cells in buffer at pH 4.2.

Mutagenic and chromosome-breaking effects of azide in barley and human leukocytes

Azide (10-3 M, solution buffered at pH 3) is more effective in inducing mutations in embryonic shoots of seeds germinated between 8 and 16 h than in non-germinated seeds and in seeds germinated between 0 and 8 h and 16 to 28 h. This peak of chlorophyll-deficient seedling mutation frequency coincides with maximum frequencies of seeding lethals and DNA replication in the cells of the embryonic shoot. The mutation data suggest azide may only act on replicating DNA. Azide induced no chromosome-aberration frequencies significantly above controls in (1) embryonic shoots of barley seeds germinated for 8--12 h, (2) microspores of barley and (3) human leukocytes. It appears to be a point-mutation mutagen.

Mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency of sodium azide versus ethyl methanesulfonate in maize: induction of somatic mutations at the yg2 locus by treatment of seeds differing in metabolic state and cell population

This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of sodium azide tNaN3) and ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) for inducing somatic mutations at the yg2 locus in maize seeds of two different metabolic states and cell populations. Dormant or presoaked (72 h at 20 degrees C) seeds heterozygous for yg2 locus were treated with different concentrations of either EMS or NaN3. The cell populations with respect to the percentage of cells in G1, S, G2, and M were also determined for seeds of the two metabolic states. Dormant seeds possessed a higher percentage of cells in G1 and the presoaked seeds a higher percentage of cells in S, G2, and M. The frequency of yg2 sectors in leaves 4 and 5 increased with increasing concentration of both mutagens in both dormant and presoaked seeds. Both mutagens were more effective and efficient in the presoaked seeds. NaN3 was more effective than EMS in terms of number of sectors induced per unit of dose. However, EMS was more efficient as determined by sectors induced per unit of seedling injury and clearly had the ability to induce much higher sector frequencies (more than 10 times greater) than NaN3. The low ability of NaN3 (compared to EMS) to induce mutant sectors may be related to the cells not being treated at the optimum time during the cell cycle, but it is more likely due to its low effectiveness for inducing chromosome aberrations.

Induction of DNA single-strand breaks in barley by sodium azide applied at pH 3

Sodium azide (1 to 50 mM), adjusted to pH 3 and applied for 2 h to presoaked barley seeds, induced a dose-dependent frequency of single-strand breaks in DNA of non-germinating embryos. This was demonstrated by sedimentation analyses of isolated DNA samples in alkaline sucrose gradients and in neutral sucrose gradients with 80% formamide. The doses applied also inhibited dose dependently the root length, seed germination and partially the seedling height. Only the sub-lethal doses (10 and 12.5 mM) induced a low frequency of chromatid breaks and translocations in the root tip metaphases. The sedimentation rate (in alkaline sucrose gradients) of calf thymus DNA treated with sodium azide at pH 3, was similar to that of the control DNA treated with buffer (pH 3) alone.

Effect of excision repair on azide-induced mutagenesis

Azide mutagenesis was investigated in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. Azide was highly effective in inducing his+ revertants in excision-repair deficient (uvrB) derivatives of S. typhimurium hisG46 and in inducing high frequencies of 5-fluorouracil resistant mutants in excision-repair deficient (uvrA) derivatives of E. coli B/r WP2. In excision-repair plus strains, azide was only a marginal or ineffective mutagen, demonstrating that the bacterial excision-repair system could repair nearly all azide-induced damage. This observation suggests that the initial azide-induced lesion causes a major DNA helix distortion recognizable by the excision-repair endonucleases. The presence of recombination deficient (recB or recC) genes in combination with uvrA increased E. coli sensitivity to azide killing, but depressed azide mutagenicity. These results are similar to those reported for UV-induced mutagenesis with the E. coli strains and suggest that post-replication repair might be the error-prone step in the repair process. Azide mutagenesis specificity is, however, unique and different from UV, as demonstrated by inability of azide to revert the ochre try locus in E. coli WP2s. These results show that the initial azide-induced DNA damage is highly specific but different from UV-induced DNA damage. Metabolic inhibitors, similar in action to azide, did not induce mutations in S. typhimurium strain TA1530, a strain highly susceptible to azide mutagenesis, thus ruling out the possibility that azide mutagenesis was due to peroxide accumulation. A mechanism based on in vivo activation of azide to the actual mutagen is proposed.

Detection of carcinogens as mutagens in the Salmonella/microsome test: assay of 300 chemicals: discussion

About 300 carcinogens and non-carcinogens of a wide variety of chemical types have been tested for mutagenicity in the simple Salmonella/microsome test. The test uses bacteria as sensitive indicators of DNA damage, and mammalian liver extracts for metabolic conversion of carcinogens to their active mutagenic forms. There is a high correlation between carcinogenicity and mutagenicity: 90% (157/175) of the carcinogens were mutagenic in the test, including almost all of the known human carcinogens that were tested. Despite the severe limitations inherent in defining non-carcinogenicity, few "non-carcinogens" showed any degree of mutagenicity [McCann et al. (1975) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 72, 5135-5139]. In the present paper, carcinogens negative in the test andapparent false positives are discussed. We also discuss evidence that chemical carcinogens and radiation, likely to initiate most human cancer and genetic defects do so by damage to DNA. The Salmonella test can play a central role in a program of prevention: to identify mutagenic chemicals in the environment (all indications are there are many) and to aid in the development of non-mutagenic products to prevent future human exposure.