Genetic effects of 5-azacytidine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The base analog 5-azacytidine induced a variety of genetic and epigenetic effects in different organisms. It was tested in two diploid strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to study the induction of point mutation, mitotic reciprocal crossing-over, mitotic gene conversion (strain D7) and mitotic aneuploidy (strain D61.M). It was used on cells growing in its presence for 4-5 generations. There was a strong induction of both types of mitotic recombination and point mutation. However, there was no induction of mitotic chromosomal malsegregation under the same conditions.