Mutagenic and comutagenic effects of acid-mine water containing heavy metals

The mutagenic potential of the waste acid-mine water from the Slovak mining area of Smolnik, which contains high concentrations of heavy metals, was e valuated after its application to prokaryotic and eukaryotic test organisms (the bacteria Salmonella typhimurium and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisia e). The results obtained from a modified preincubation Ames assay showed th at 1000-fold diluted mine water exhibited the mutagenic effect after rat li ver S9 mix activation and the comutagenic effect after its combined applica tion with a positive 9-aminoacridine mutagen. In the test on S. cerevisiae the toxicity and mutagenicity increased as a function of concentration. At the highest concentration used (0.2%) the frequency of revertants was 7.3-f old increased and that of convertants 3-fold increased compared with contro l. Heavy metals might thus be responsible for the genotoxic potential of th is acid-mine water. However, it cannot be excluded that water acidity plays a part in the induction of the mutagenic and comutagenic effects.