This project investigates the factors which may affect the response of yeast cells to potential mutagens and thus to optimise their response. The problem was approached from four main angles as follows: i) permeability - rendering the cells more permeable either by pre-treatment with selected chemicals or by selecting clones with cell wall defects; ii) repair capacity - preventing adequate repair of damaged DNA either by post-treatment with repair inhibitors or by using strains with defective repair genes; iii) genetic background - looking at reversion in the same gene but in a different genetic background or different genes in the same background; iv) treatment conditions - treating cells in buffer or broth, with or without exogenous activation, at 28 C or 37 C. The general conclusions which may be drawn from these studies are: a) most chemical mutagens are able to enter the yeast cells in sufficient quantities to cause damage to the DNA without pre-treating the cells to increase their permeability; b) the repair capacity of a cell is a very important factor in its response to a mutagen and if this capacity is greatly impaired, then the chances of survival of the cell after treatment with a mutagen are greatly reduced; c) the genetic background of a cell and the marker under consideration can affect the response of the cell to a mutagen; d) the conditions under which yeast cells are exposed to mutagens affect both the response of the yeast cells and the effectiveness of the mutagen itself. As for optimising the response of the yeast cells to mutagens this can only be done by gathering together all the information already known about the compound under study, and any related compounds, and analysing this data to discover what treatment conditions should be used and possibly what test.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:639246 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Tippins, T. A. |
| Publisher | Swansea University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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