Genetic effects of phthalimide fungicides on diploid Aspergillus nidulans

A few specimens of ‘Ridomil 25 WP’, a commercial formulation of metalaxyl, showed high genetic activity on a heterozygous diploid strain of Aspergillus nidulans. This activity was due to an impurity which was identified by mass and n.m.r. spectroscopy as captafol. This and the related fungicides captan, dichlofluanid, and tolyfluanid greatly increased the yield of euploid colour segregants from the diploid strain. At low captafol concentrations, most of the induced segregants resulted from mitotic crossing over but chromosome non‐disjunction or loss was also caused at high concentrations. Mitotic crossing over could be induced also by vapour‐phase action of captafol and captan. The mechanism by which these phthalimides may exert their genetic effects is discussed.