The Ames ISO procedure was developed to test mutagenic materials in a variety of sources like environmental air and water samples, foods, personal care products, and industrial effluents by the fluctuation assay which is a variation of the traditional “Ames Test”.

The ISO method provides researchers with a reliable test method which is facile to set up and run, amenable to samples in aqueous solution or suspension and produces an easily-detectable colorimetric endpoint after 2-3 days of incubation at 37 °C.

This method differs from the Muta-ChromoPlate method as the 384-well microplates used conserve reagents and plastic wastes. Laboratories knowledgeable with how to perform the Ames assay will enjoy the high performance of the ISO method with the added cost benefits and conservation of lab and incubation space which can be at a premium.

Bacterial Strains which can be included with the Ames ISO kit include:

TA100, TA98, TA1535, TA97a, WP2 uvr and WP2 uvr pKM101

S9 and Activation of Pro-Mutagens (Optional)

S9 is a crude liver enzyme extract that can, under certain conditions, convert materials without any genotoxic activity to active genotoxic entities. The chemical process involved may be different for different materials. In addition, the lifetime of the activated moieties is extremely variable: some may be extremely short-lived. This is the reason for incubating the S-9 with the bacteria and the tested material at the same time during the assays.

Ames Express Strains – A new alternate for the detection of Pro-Mutagens

EBPI is proud to officially announce the release of our NEW Ames bacterial strains, called the Ames-Express strains.  Ames-Express^TM strains are constructed from normal Ames bacterial strains (TA100, TA98, TA1535, TA97a, TA1538), but have been engineered to also express either human P450 or GST-theta liver enzymes internally, which promotes bioactivation of xenobiotic molecules into DNA reactive species in the absence of an S9 mix.

The Ames Test ISO, Ames Modifed ISO and Muta-ChromoPlate Kit are designed to be run with the traditional Ames Test bacterial strains or EBPI’s new Ames Express bacterial Strains.