Cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 in Photobacterium phosphoreum

Abstract

The aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 were evaluated for their effects on the in vivo bioluminescence of Photobacterium phosphoreum. Their order of potency for producing cytotoxic effects was AFB1 > AFG1 > AFB2 > AFG2. The mutagenic effects of these compounds were determined with a dark mutant of P. phosphoreum. Both aflatoxin B1 and G1 induced luminescent revertants in a manner similar to mutagenic chemicals known to attack guanine sites in DNA, but no inductive activity was observed for aflatoxin B2 or aflatoxin G2 at the concentrations tested. © 1985.