Frameshift Mutagenesis in Salmonella

Abstract

In bacteriophage, acridine mutagens such as proflavine add or delete nucleotides from the DNA. If the addition or deletion of nucleotides is not a multiple of 3 bases, the translation of the genetic message which occurs in unpunctuated triplets is shifted out of frame (Crick, Barnett, Brenner, and Watts-Tobin, 1961). These mutations are called frameshift mutations. In contrast to the results with bacteriophage systems, attempts to mutate bacteria with proflavine or similar acridines have met with little success (Orgel, 1965).