Multiple Choice
During an Ames test, if the test plate has only a few colonies grown on it like the control plate, this means that:
16. Microbial Genetics
The Ames Test
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Ames test is a method to:
A
Test error rate in DNA replication.
B
Characterize mutation types.
C
Test mutagenicity of potential hazardous chemicals.
D
Test proofreading capacities of DNA polymerases during replication (or PCR).
Verified step by step guidance1
Understand the purpose of the Ames test: It is designed to assess the mutagenic potential of chemical compounds.
Recognize that the test uses strains of the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium that carry mutations in genes involved in histidine synthesis, making them unable to grow on a medium lacking histidine.
Introduce the chemical being tested to the bacterial culture and observe whether it causes mutations that reverse the original mutation, allowing the bacteria to grow on a histidine-free medium.
Identify that an increase in the number of colonies on the histidine-free medium indicates that the chemical has mutagenic properties, as it has induced mutations that restore the bacteria's ability to synthesize histidine.
Conclude that the Ames test is specifically used to test the mutagenicity of potential hazardous chemicals, not to test error rates in DNA replication or proofreading capacities of DNA polymerases.
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