INDUCTION OF MUTATIONS IN DROSOPHILA BY DIBENZANTHRACENE

Abstract

OON after the rediscovery of MENDEL'S laws, attempts were made to in-s duce mutations by treatment with various chemicals. As early as 1906, MACDOUGAL (1906MACDOUGAL ( , 1911) ) announced that he had succeeded in inducing hereditary changes in several plants by injecting solutions of certain chemicals into the ovaries immediately after fertilization. Since his experiments were carried on with Oenothera and plants related to Oenothera, it is now understandable why during that early period of genetics MACDOUGAL did not obtain conclusive results. Other attempts a t chemical induction of mutations were made by several investigators, using a number of organisms, including Drosophila. The first unquestionably successful results, however, were obtained by AUERBACH and ROBSON (1946; 1947a, b) who induced mutations in the sperm of Drosophila by exposing males to vapors of mustard gas and of related nitrogen-mustard compounds. They assumed that the mustard vapor entered the fly through the spiracles, was distributed within the body by the tracheae and tracheoles, and in some way reached the testes and affected the sperm.