VAPORS OF METHYL ALCOHOL INDUCED SOMATIC MUTATIONS IN Tradescantia CLONE 02

Resumen

Plants of Tradescantia clone 02 bearing young flower buds were exposed to different concentrations of methanol vapors (14 X l0³ ppm to 175 X 10³ ppm) in order to investigate the mutagenicity of methanol and, if positive, to determine the exposure-response relationship.
Pink mutant events in the stamen hairs were recorded and increases in the frequencies were observed between 7 and 16 days after treatments.
The mutation frequency produced by doses lower than 43 x 10³ ppm was the same as that of the control, whereas higher exposures caused an exponential increase in the number of mutations.
The slope and amplitude of the exposure-response curve were compared with results obtained using the alkylating agent, ethyl methanesulfonate, the fumigant and gasoline additive, 2-dibromoethane, and x rays. The results of this comparison allow us to consider methanol as a "weak" mutagen.
To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on the mutagenic action of methanol in vapor form.