Rapid detection of mutagens accumulated in plant tissues using a novel Vibrio harveyi mutagenicity assay

Mutagenicity of quaternary ammonium salts containing carbohydrate moieties

Quaternary ammonium salts are widely used in industrial, agricultural, healthcare and domestic applications. They are believed to be safe compounds, with little or no health hazard to humans. However, in this report, we demonstrate that a series of newly synthesized quaternary ammonium salts containing carbohydrate moieties reveal potent mutagenic activities, as assessed by using the Vibrio harveyi bioluminescence mutagenicity test. D-Gluco- and D-galacto-derivatives were found to have a higher mutagenic potential than D-manno-derivatives. Among the former groups of compounds, the N-[2-(D-glycopyranosyloxy)ethyl]-N,N,N-trimethylaminium salts were of the highest activity in the mutagenicity assay. These results suggest that the safety of quaternary ammonium salts may be lower than previously supposed, indicating a need for testing such compounds for their mutagenicity.

The use of the Vibrio harveyi luminescence mutagenicity assay as a rapid test for preliminary assessment of mutagenic pollution of marine sediments

Mutagenic pollution of the natural environment is currently one of the most serious environmental problems. It includes the pollution of marine sediments. Therefore, rapid detection of the presence of mutagens is an important issue. Recently, we have developed a novel microbiological assay for rapid assessment of mutagenicity of samples from the natural environment. This assay is based on bioluminescence of a mutant Vibrio harveyi strain, and was shown to be useful in testing samples of marine water and plant tissues. Here we demonstrate the usefulness of this assay in preliminary assessment of mutagenic pollution of marine sediments. Mutagenicity of environmental samples taken from the Baltic Sea, is documented and compared here with a commercially available standard sediment sample (IAEA 383), which contains known amounts of mutagenic compounds. The whole procedure, from obtaining a sample in the laboratory to getting final results, is very short (less than 4 h).