Mutagenesis assay (a measure of mutagenic ability) that involves specially engineered strains of bacteria. Because of the relationship between mutagenicity and carcinogenicity, the test is used as a rapid and relatively inexpensive first screening of untested chemicals that are suspected to be carcinogens.
In vitro test for mutagenicity using mutant strains of the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium which cannot grow in a given histidine-deficient medium: mutagens can cause reverse mutations which enable the bacterium to grow on the medium. The test can be carried out in the presence of a given microsomal fraction (S-9) from rat liver to allow metabolic transformation of mutagen precursors to active derivatives.
A genetic test for the identification of carcinogens based upon their mutagenic activity initially developed by Bruce Ames. The test relies upon the ability of a chemical or physical agent to promote the reversion of different classes of mutations that cause histidine auxotrophy.
a test which measures the potential of a chemical to cause mutations in bacteria; those causing mutations are probably capable of causing cancer in mammals
A widely used test to detect possible chemical carcinogens; based on mutagenicity in the bacterium Salmonella.
used to assess whether a chemical might be a carcinogen. It assumes that carcinogens possess mutagenic activity, and uses bacteria and mammalian microsomes to determine whether a chemical is a mutagen. Approximately 85% of known carcinogens are mutagens. The Ames test, therefore, is a helpful but not perfect predictor of carcinogenic potential.
a test for mutagenicity of chemical compounds that uses special strains of the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium. About 90-95% of demonstrated mutagens are also carcinogenic.
The Ames test is a biological assay to assess the mutagenic potential of chemical compounds. As cancer is often linked to DNA damage the test also serves as a quick assay to estimate the carcinogenic potential of a compound, since the standard tests for carcinogenicity done on rodents take years to complete and are expensive to do. The procedure is described in a series of papers from the early 1970s by Bruce Ames and his group at the University of California, Berkeley.
