GENETIC-ACTIVITY OF ULTRALOW DOSES OF ANT ITUMOR ANTIBIOTICS AND 2-NITROFLUORENE - ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM

The genetic (mutagenic) activity of ultralow doses (below 1 x 10(-12) M) of the antitumor antibiotics, anthracyclines and bleomycin, as well as the typical pollutant and component of the urban atmosphere 2-nitr ofluorene, was studied on the model of Salmonella typhimurium LT2 TA98 hisD3052. It was shown for the first time that carminomycin and 2-nit rofluorene at 1 x 10(-17) and 1 x 10(-22) M induced a two- to threefol d increase in the number of revertants-prototrophs over the spontaneou s background. The areas of increase (1 x 10(-15) M) and decrease (1 x 10(-19) and 1 x 10(-21) M) in the number of mutants, as compared with the spontaneous background, were found in the curve of dose dependence of the number of mutants in the presence of bleomycin. The results ob tained were discussed in terms of their ecological importance.