Mutagenicity of pesticides evaluated by means of gene-conversion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in Aspergillus nidulans.

Nine pesticides, Afugan, Atrazine, Benomyl, Captan, Daconil, Melthaumittel, Plantvax, Saprol, and Wepsin were tested for the induction of mitotic gene-conversion in two different eucaryotic microorganisms, Saccharomyces cerevisae and Aspergillus nidulans. In S cerevisiae the pesticides were also tested after mouse liver microsomal activation; in A nidulans all tests were performed using both resting and germinating conidia. Among the tested pesticides, only Captan revealed a consistent genetic activity, three times greater than that observed with the standard mutagen methylmethansulphonate. This genetic activity of Captan is suppressed after mammalian metabolic conversion. The use of germinating conidia in A nidulans for scoring the induction of mitotic gene-conversion did not give any further information on the activity of the tested pesticides.