High Density 60 Hz Magnetic Field Has No Effects on Mutagenicity and Growth of the Budding Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used as a model organism to study the effects of 60 Hz magnetic fields on growth and mutagenicity.We designed an extremely low-frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) exposure system for biological experiments.Using this system, we studied the effect of the ELF-MF on various yeast strains including radiation-sensitive mutants, rad and rev.The exposure to 60Hz magnetic fields of up to 0.5T had no effect on yeast cell growth.Neither a mutagenic potential of 60Hz nor static magnetic fields of up to 0.5 T could be detected by ade2→ADE2⁺reversion assay.