%0 Journal Article
%T Actinomycin D as an Epimutagen in Protists
%A Uspenskaya, Zoya I.
%A Yudin, Alexander L.
%J Acta Protozoologica
%V 2017
%R 10.4467/16890027AP.17.012.7493
%N Volume 56, Issue 3
%P 139-147
%K actinomycin D, Amoeba proteus, Dileptus anser, epigenetic variation, epimutagen, inheritable destabilization of characters
%@ 0065-1583
%D 2017
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/acta-protozoologica/article/actinomycin-d-as-an-epimutagen-in-protists
%X 
A previously unrecorded property of actinomycin D, a well-known antibiotic, was discovered in the course of long-term genetic research on the amoeba Amoeba proteus and the ciliate Dileptus anser. In these protists actinomycin D can induce an unusual type of hereditary variation, which we refer to as the inheritable destabilization of characters. A number of features indicate that this variation is epigenetic, that is, not caused by mutations in the DNA. Therefore, actinomycin D may be considered as an inducer of epigenetic inheritable changes, in other words, as an epimutagen.