Mutagenicity of constituents of pulp and paper mill effluent in growing cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

42 compounds identified in pulp mill effluent were screened for genetic activity in growing yeast cells using strains D7 and XV185-14C without S9. In addition to 3 of these compounds that had been shown previously to be mutagenic in Salmonella. 5 more were mutagenic in strain XV185-14C. All 8 induced 2-5-fold increases in reversion frequencies over background at the trp5 locus--5 of these induced 1.5-3-fold increases at the hom3 locus and 1 induced a doubling at his1. None of the compounds induced absolute increases of gene convertants per plate in strain D7, although 3 showed increased convertant frequencies as survival decreased.