No mutagenic or recombinogenic effects of mobile phone fields at 900 MHz detected in the yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Both actively growing and resting cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were exposed to 900-MHz fields that closely matched the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) pulsed modulation format signals for mobile phones at specific absorption rates (SAR) of 0.13 and 1.3 W/kg. Two identical anechoic test chambers were constructed to perform concurrent control and test experiments under well-controlled exposure conditions. Using specific test strains, we examined the genotoxic potential of mobile phone fields, alone and in combination, with a known genotoxic compound, the alkylating agent methyl methansulfonate. Mutation rates were monitored by two test systems, a widely used gene-specific forward mutation assay at CAN1 and a wide-range assay measuring the induction of respiration-deficient (petite) clones that have lost their mitochondrial function. In addition, two further assays measured the recombinogenic effect of mobile phone fields to detect possible effects on genomic stability: First, an intrachromosomal, deletion-formation assay previously developed for genotoxic screening; and second, an intragenic recombination assay in the ADE2 gene. Fluctuation tests failed to detect any significant effect of mobile phone fields on forward mutation rates at CAN1, on the frequency of petite formation, on rates of intrachromosomal deletion formation, or on rates of intragenic recombination in the absence or presence of the genotoxic agent methyl methansulfonate.

Using model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae to evaluate the effects of ELF‐MF and RF‐EMF exposure on global gene expression

“…The effects of EMF that have been studied in S. cerevisiae include apoptotic, mutagenic, and recombinogenic effects of RF-EMF [Gos et al, 2000;Markkanen et al, 2004] and gene and protein expression responses to ELF-MF [Binninger and Ungvichian, 1997;Nakasono et al, 2003;Luceri et al, 2005;Sinclair et al, 2006]. cerevisiae has been widely used to explore the biological effects induced by various environmental stimuli.…”

“…cerevisiae has been widely used to explore the biological effects induced by various environmental stimuli. The effects of EMF that have been studied in S. cerevisiae include apoptotic, mutagenic, and recombinogenic effects of RF-EMF [Gos et al, 2000;Markkanen et al, 2004] and gene and protein expression responses to ELF-MF [Binninger and Ungvichian, 1997;Nakasono et al, 2003;Luceri et al, 2005;Sinclair et al, 2006]. However, the effects of ELF-MF on cellular gene expression are controversial [Binninger and Ungvichian, 1997;Nakasono et al, 2003;Luceri et al, 2005], and the possible effects of RF-EMF exposure on gene expression in yeast cells remain to be elucidated.…”

Impact of radio frequency electromagnetic radiation on DNA integrity in the male germline

“…Thus microbial mutation assays have returned largely negative results, as have Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) in vivo mutation assays (Brusick et al, 1998). Furthermore, RFEMR does not appear to induce DNA strand breaks in murine fibroblasts (Malyapa et al, 1997;Li et al, 2001), human blood cells (Garson et al, 1991;Maes et al, 1997) or the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Gos et al, 2000). RFEMR has also been shown to have no efficacy as a tumour promoter in major tissues in mice (Heikkinen et al, 2001;Mason et al, 2001) or rats (Bartsch et al, 2002).…”

Effect of 905 MHz microwave radiation on colony growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains FF18733, FF1481 and D7

“…Preliminary results indicate that modulated RF/MW radiation with a low SAR value did not affect either the rate of gene conversion nor reverse mutations in strain D7. Gos et al 21 reported that mobile phone fields at 900 MHz with SAR of 0.13 and 1.3 W/kg did not exhibit any effect on mutations or recombinations in S. cerevisiae cells either in the absence or presence of genotoxic stress.…”