TANNIC-ACID IS NOT MUTAGENIC IN GERM-CELLS BUT WEAKLY GENOTOXIC IN SOMATIC-CELLS OF DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER

Tannic acid (TA) was tested for genotoxic activity in three different assays (1-3) in Drosophila melanogaster by feeding of larvae or adult flies. TA did not induce sex-linked recessive lethals (1) nor sex-chro mosome loss, mosaicism or non-disjunction (2) in male germ cells. In t he wing somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) (3) TA was fou nd to be toxic for larvae of the high bioactivation cross and produced a weak positive response. These results suggest that this compound, w hen administered orally to larvae or adults of D. melanogaster, is not mutagenic and clastogenic in male germ cells, but weakly genotoxic in somatic cells of the wing imaginal disk.