Diaveridine is a dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) inhibitor with a Ki of 11.5 nM for the wild type DHFR and also an antibacterial agent. Treatments with Diaveridine for 90 min have a strong bactericidal effect on S. typhimurium TA1535, and no bacterial growth is observed at 10μg/mL or more. Without metabolic activation, treatment with Diaveridine for 48 h, but not 24 h, causes a dose-dependent, significant increase in the frequency of aberrant metaphases. At 100 μg/mL, 60% of the metaphases contain chromosome aberrations.