Somatic mutation frequencies in Tradescantia stamen hairs treated with aqueous solutions of ethyl methanesulfonate and methyl methanesulfonate.

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Abstract
Young inflorescences of Tradescantia BNL 02 clone heterozygous for flower color (blue/pink; the blue color being dominant) were treated with 0.1 to 0.5% aqueous solutions of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) for 2 to 16 hr, or with 0.005 and 0.01% aqueous solutions of methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) for 16 hr. Somatic pink mutations induced in the stamen hairs were scored, and the mutation frequencies expressed as the number of pink mutant events per 103 hairs and per 104 hair-cell divisions were calculated. The mutation frequencies increased with increasing EMS or MMS dose in %.hr, and the slopes of the dose-response curves on log-log graphs were about 1.2 when the mutation frequencies (minus controls) pooled for 7-day peak periods (post-treatment days 8-14 to 10-16) were plotted against EMS dose. It was also found that MMS was about ten times more effective than EMS in inducing pink mutations. The mutation frequencies observed were roughly comparable to those induced by 4 to 300 mGy (0.4 to 30 rad) of acute X rays.

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