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Fishing for mutations

Nature Biotechnology volume 18, pages 21–22 (2000)Cite this article

In this issue Amanuma et al.1 report a system for using transgenic zebra fish (Brachydanio rerio) to test water environments for potential mutagens. Their system uses a shuttle plasmid that can be moved from zebra fish to bacteria, which will detect mutagens based on the acquisition of mutation-induced streptomycin resistance. The endeavor is quite important when we consider the dependency of life on water quality, and could be an important tool for understanding the mechanisms of mutagenesis in a whole organism.

Detection of induced heritable or somatic mutation in vivo is a practical challenge since mutational events happen only in the range of 10−5 to 10−7 per cell generation. Although these numbers seem small, their biological significance becomes noticeable in the large genomes (e.g., ∼109 bp) of higher animals. As a result, all higher organisms accumulate large numbers of de novo mutations during development. Type, location, and time of occurrence determine the consequence of any genetic alteration for the organism.

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Figure 1: A conceptualization for integrating studies of mutagenesis in rodent and aquatic species containing the same transgenic reporter genes.

References

  1. Amanuma, K., Takeda, H., Amanuma, H. & Aoki, Y. Nat. Biotechnol. 18, 62–65 ( 2000).

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  2. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 34, 69–226 (1999).

  3. Burkhart, J.G. & Malling, H.V. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 22, 1–6 (1993).

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  4. Shane, B.S. et al. Mutat. Res. 377, 1–11 ( 1997).

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  1. biochemist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, 27709, NC

    James G. Burkhart

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  1. James G. Burkhart
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Burkhart, J. Fishing for mutations. Nat Biotechnol 18, 21–22 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/71869

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