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Exposure of several trp-auxotrophic Escherichia coli strains, carrying base-pair substitutions, to chloroethylene oxide or chloroacetaldehyde (two metabolites of vinyl chloride) increased the mutation frequency to tryptophan prototrophy. Strong cytotoxic and mutagenic effects were observed with 2.5 mM chloroethylene oxide, while a higher concentration of chloroacetaldehyde (100 mM) exhibited a mutagenic effect which was 400 times lower.

Chloroethylene oxide (CEO), an ultimate carcinogenic metabolite of vinyl chloride, induces base-pair substitution mutations but not frameshift mutations in bacteria. The mutational specificity of CEO was investigated in Escherichia coli, using the trpA mutants developed by Yanofsky. Reversion frequencies to tryptophan prototrophy were analysed, and CEO was found to induce more GC----AT transitions than AT----TA transversions, in addition to a low frequency of other types of substitution. This specificity indicates that CEO is mutagenic through a miscoding DNA adduct. The results are discussed in relation to the various CEO-DNA adducts formed and to their reported or expected mispairing properties.