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XVII.—Tests for a Possible Action of Ethylene Glycol on the Chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

Subrata Bhattacharya
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Extract

The work of Auerbach and Robson (1946, 1947 a and b) on mustard gas and related substances has first shown conclusively that chemical substances may be as effective as high-energy radiation in the production of mutations. Subsequently, mutagenic abilities have been reported for a number of other substances (Hadorn and Niggli, 1946; Demerec, 1947 a and b; Vogt, 1948; Rapoport, 1946; Kaplan, 1948). This discovery, however, does not obviate the necessity to search for further mutagenic substances. On the contrary, it raises the hope that more such substances may be found. Only through a comparative study of many chemical mutagens may it eventually become possible to connect mutagenic activity with specific chemical groups or configurations and thus to throw some light on the chemical basis of mutation. Moreover, the indiscriminacy of mutagenic action which mustard gas shares with radiation may not be common to all mutagens: the discovery of a chemical substance with specific action on one or several genes would mean a large step forward in the analysis of the nature of the gene.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 63 , Issue 3 , 1949 , pp. 242 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1949

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References

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