Induction of petite mutants in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by the anticancer drug dequalinium.

Abstract Dequalinium (DEQ), a drug with both antimicrobial and anticancer activity, induced the formation of petite (respiration-deficient) mutants in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . DEQ was found to be approximately 50-fold more potent than ethidium bromide (EB) at inducing petites. Analysis of the DEQ-induced petite mutants indicated a complete loss of mitochondrial DNA (