Geneticists often use the alkylating agent ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS; see Figure 15.6) to induce mutations in Drosophila. Why is EMS a mutagen of choice for genetic research? What would be the effects of EMS in a strain of Drosophila lacking functional mismatch repair systems?
Geneticists often use the alkylating agent ethylmethane
sulfonate (EMS; see Figure 15.6) to induce mutations
in Drosophila. Why is EMS a mutagen of choice for genetic
research? What would be the effects of EMS in a strain of
Drosophila lacking functional mismatch repair systems?
EMS a mutagen of choice for genetic research , it is because of -
EMS, an alkylating agent, commonly is used as a chemical mutagen for DNA lesions. Unlike N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea, EMS induces a biased spectrum of G/C-to-A/T transitions. These transitions most likely occur due to the alkylation at the O6 or N7 position of guanine, which leads to the replacement of cytosine with thymine base pairing . Known as EMS canonical base substitutions, the high frequency of G/C-to-A/T changes has been observed upon EMS exposure in different organisms, including Arabidopsis thaliana , Oryza sativa ,L. japonicus , Caenorhabditis elegans , Solanum lycopersicum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae at different rates. EMS also tends to produce random point mutations and induces a low level of chromosomal breaks and lethal effects . These effects provide a competent survival rate and allow subsequent analyses to be performed for both forward and reverse genetics.
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