Assessing the mutagenic potential of methyl phenlactonoate 3 and Nijmegen-1 in bacterial reverse mutation assays

The use of strigolactone (SL) analogs as suicidal germination agents to control the seed banks of the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica has gained interest for field applications in recent years. However, concerns about the environmental safety of these SL analogs remain. In this study, we evaluated the mutagenic potential of two selected SL analogs, Methyl Phenlactonoate 3 (MP3) and Nijmegen-1, across concentrations ranging from 1.5 to 5000 μg per plate. We conducted this assessment using five histidine-deficient mutant tester strains of Salmonella typhimurium. After incubating the SL analogs with the tester strains, we observed no significant increase in the number of revertants, with and without the S9 mix, compared to both negative and positive laboratory controls. These results suggest that MP3 and Nijmegen-1 are non-mutagenic according to the bacterial reverse mutation test, supporting their potential as environmentally safe agents for managing Striga populations.