Mutagen

Definition: Mutagen

Mutagen

Noun

1. Any agent (physical or environmental) that can induce a genetic mutation or can increase the rate of mutation.

Domain	Definition
Agriculture	An agent that causes a permanent genetic change in a cell other than that which occurs during normal growth. Testing to determine mutagenicity is one component of assessing the potential chronic toxicity of pesticides and other chemicals. (references)
Health	A substance that causes mutations (genetic damage). (references)
Medicine	Any agent, such as x-rays, gamma rays, mustard gas, TCDD, that can cause abnormal mutation in living cells ; having the power to cause mutations. Source: European Union. (references)
	A substance capable of inducing genetic mutations. Source: European Union. (references)
	Having the power to cause mutations. Source: European Union. (references)
	Mutagenic agent; any agent that causes the production of a mutation, e. g. radioactive substances, x-rays, or certain chemical substances. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

A mutagen (Latin, roughly change maker) is an agent that changes the genetic information (usually DNA) of an organism and thus increases the number of mutations above the natural background level. Mutagens can be chemical compounds or radiation.

There are several methods to detect how mutagenic an agent is:

Ames test

See also : teratogenesis -- DNA repair -- genetics

Synonyms: Mutagen

Synonyms by domain: mutagen substance (medicine), mutagenic.

Crosswords: Mutagen

Specialty definitions using "mutagen": 4-Hydroxyaminoquinoline-1-oxide, 4-Nitroquinoline-1-oxide ♦ Aminacrine ♦ Bromouracil ♦ Ethyl Methanesulfonate ♦ Methyl Methanesulfonate, Mutagens. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Mutagen" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Danish (mutagenic), German (mutagenic).

Domain	Title
Books	Enzyme Induction, Mutagen Activation and Carcinogen Testing in Yeast (Ellis Horwood Series in Biochemistry and Biotechnology) (reference) Formation of the strong mutagen 3-chloro-4-(dichloromethyl)-5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone, MX, by chlorination of aromatic model compounds and of fractions of humic water (reference) Enzyme Induction, Mutagen Activation and Carcinogen Testing in Yeast (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Ca Selects Plus: Carcinogens Mutagen & Teratogens (reference) (more periodical examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

"Mutagen" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Mutagen" is used about 4 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	4	175,879

Expression using "mutagen": mutagen substance. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "mutagen"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		mutagene (mutagenic), mutagen (mutagenic). (various references)

Dutch		mutagene stof (mutagen substance, mutagenic), mutageen (mutagenic). (various references)

Finnish		mutageeninen (mutagen substance, mutagenic), mutageeni (mutagenic). (various references)

French		mutagène (mutagen substance, mutagenic), facteur mutagène. (various references)

German		mutagene Substanz (mutagen substance), Mutagen (mutagenic), erbgutverändernd (mutagenic), Erbgut verändernd (mutagenic). (various references)

Greek		μεταλλακτικός παράγοντας, μεταλλαξιογόνος ουσία (mutagen substance), μεταλλαξιογόνο (mutagen substance). (various references)

Italian		mutageno (mutagenic), mutagene (mutagenic), mutagen (mutagenic), agente mutageno (mutagenic). (various references)

Pig Latin		utagenmay

Portuguese		mutagénico (mutagenic), mutagéneo (mutagenic), mutação (mutation, saltation), substância mutagénea (mutagen substance). (various references)

Spanish		mutageno, mutagénico (mutagenic), mutágeno (mutagenic). (various references)

Swedish		mutagen (mutagen substance, mutagenic). (various references)

Ukrainian		мутаген. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "mutagen": mutageneses, mutagenesis, mutagenic, mutagenically, mutagenicities, mutagenicity, mutagens. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: augment.
	Words within the letters "a-e-g-m-n-t-u"
	-1 letter: magnet, nutmeg, untame.
	-2 letters: agent, ament, gamut, gaunt, genua, mange, meant, menta, tegua, unmet.
	-3 letters: ague, amen, ante, aunt, etna, gaen, game, gane, gate, gaum, gaun, gent, genu, geta, geum, gnat, guan, mage, mane, mate, maun, maut, mean, meat, menu, meta, mute, name, neat, nema, neum, tame, tang, team, tuna, tune, tung.
	-4 letters: age.
	Words containing the letters "a-e-g-m-n-t-u"
	+1 letter: argentum, argument, augments, gunmetal, mutagens, tegumina, umangite.
	+2 letters: argentums, argumenta, arguments, augmented, augmenter, augmentor, emulating, glutamine, gunmetals, magnitude, mutagenic, umangites.
	+3 letters: argumentum, augmenters, augmenting, augmentors, glutamines, judgmental, magnitudes, multirange, numerating, outbeaming, reargument.
	+4 letters: argumentive, assuagement, draughtsmen, drumbeating, enumerating, gametangium, glutaminase, ligamentous, mercurating, multiagency, mutageneses, mutagenesis, nonargument, nystagmuses, outdreaming, rearguments, unmitigated.
	+5 letters: assuagements, augmentation, augmentative, counterimage, demodulating, desquamating, drumbeatings, emasculating, gametogenous, glutaminases, hematogenous, judgmentally, languishment, magnetopause, magniloquent, manslaughter, menstruating, metalanguage, miseducating, multimegaton, mutagenicity, nonarguments, pneumatology, remunerating, undergarment, ungerminated.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.