In vitro Mammalian Gene Mutation Tests The mammalian mutation assays measure forward mutations at two different loci. These loci control the expression of thymidine kinase (TK) or hypoxanthine- guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) or xanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (gpt). In order to evaluate the effect of metabolism on the test article, such tests are performed in the presence and absence of exogenous mammalian liver enzyme preparations (S9).