The effect of maleic hydrazide on growth and mutation of a blue-green alga

Abstract

Maleic hydrazide is mutagenic to the blue-green alga Anacystis nidulans at pH 5.0, producing mutations to streptomycin-resistance and penicillin-resistance, and is non-mutagenic at pH 8.0, promoting growth in low concentrations. The maleic hydrazide-induced increases in the levels of streptomycin- and penicillin-resistance are 1000 and 500 times respectively over the parental strain. The resistant strains can further mutate spontaneously to give rise to strains resistant to still higher concentrations of the antibiotic. Cultures growing with manganese are more sensitive to maleic hydrazide-induced inhibition of growth than are those growing without manganese. However, cultures of the alga in maleic hydrazide grown in the presence of two different concentrations of manganese differ in the extent of growth which is better in those with the higher manganese concentration than in those with the lower. These results suggest different modes of interaction between manganese and maleic hydrazide, controlled primarily by manganese concentration.