Genetic differences between the standard Ames tester strains TA100 and TA98.

The standard Ames tester strains of Salmonella typhimurium are separated by many steps in their pedigree, some involving mutagen treatments, and contain independently isolated uvrB-bio-gal deletions and rfa mutations. In this work the araD531 mutation was introduced into the Ames tester strains TA100 and TA98. The responsiveness of the resulting strains (BA15 and BA14) to a number of chemical mutagens was then assessed by monitoring the induction of forward mutations to L-arabinose resistance (Ara test). Here we have shown that these two strains of the Ames test differ greatly in their responses to mutagens, in ways that are not associated with the mutagenic specificities of the original his mutations. In general, the genetic background of strain TA100 appears to be more sensitive to the killing effects of chemicals than that of TA98. The greatest differences were found with nifurtimox (NFX) and its analogue, compound 1K. The Ara test responded to the mutagenic effects of these two nitrofurans when carried out in the genetic background of strain TA98 but not in that of TA100. A higher sensitivity to the lethal effects of NFX and 1K together with the greater nitro-reduction capability of strain TA100 as compared with TA98 might explain the differences. In conclusion, our results indicate that the standard Ames S. typhimurium tester strains are not isogenic and that genetic differences at loci other than his might be significant for mutagenicity testing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)