Identify the purpose of and outline the procedure for the Ames test.

Identify the purpose of and outline the procedure for the Ames test.



purpose: access chemicals for their ability to cause mutations
1. two cultures are prepared of salmonella bacteria that have lost the ability to synthesize histidine (histidine-dependent)

2. the suspected mutagen is added to the experimental sample only; rate liver extract (an activator) is added to both samples

3. each sample is poured onto a plate of medium lacking histidine. the plates are then incubated at 37 degrees Celcius for two days. only bacteria whose histidine-dependent phenotype has mutated back (reverted) to histidine-synthesizing will grow into colonies

4. the number of colonies on the experimental and control plates are compared. the control plate may show a few spontaneous histidine-synthesizing revertants. the test plates will show an increase in the number of histidine-synthesizing revertants if the test chemical is indeed a mutagen and potential carcinogen. the higher the concentration of mutagen used, the more revertant colonies will result

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Discuss the seven characteristics of useful information.

Why have accounting software packages been designed with separate transaction modules?

A laboratory assistant prepared solution of 0.8 M, 0.6 M, 0.4 M, and 0.2 M sucrose, but forgot to label them. After realizing the error, the assistant randomly labeled the flasks containing these four unknown solutions as flask A, flask B, flask C, and flask D.