The present experiment was carried out to detect the basic toxic effect of kojic acid (5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-γ-pyrone), a fungal metabolite produced by some species of Aspergillus and Penicillium, in Drosophila melanogaster. Kojic add was highly ...
The present experiment was carried out to detect the basic toxic effect of kojic acid (5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-γ-pyrone), a fungal metabolite produced by some species of Aspergillus and Penicillium, in Drosophila melanogaster. Kojic add was highly toxic on the developmental and adult stages, resulting in prolongation of the developmental time and lowering of the viability from larvae to adult, and high mortality of adults as dose increased. The LC_50 value at 72 hr i.e., the concentration at which 50% of treated flies died within 72hr, was about 4.8㎎/㎖. As to the sex ratio of flies fed kojic acid during the development, there was no differences between the control and the treated groups. And, kojic acid gave no a significant mutagenic effect on the induction of the sex-linked lethal mutagenesis by the attached-X method used in this study.