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Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on November 17, 2008.

Genetics, Vol. 181, 23-31, January 2009, Copyright © 2009
doi:10.1534/genetics.108.095588

Reinventing the Ames Test as a Quantitative Lab That Connects Classical and Molecular Genetics

Nathan Goodson-Gregg and Elizabeth A. De Stasio1

Biology Department, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin 54911

1 Corresponding author: Lawrence University, P. O. Box 599, Appleton, WI 54911-0599.
E-mail: destasie{at}lawrence.edu

While many institutions use a version of the Ames test in the undergraduate genetics laboratory, students typically are not exposed to techniques or procedures beyond qualitative analysis of phenotypic reversion, thereby seriously limiting the scope of learning. We have extended the Ames test to include both quantitative analysis of reversion frequency and molecular analysis of revertant gene sequences. By giving students a role in designing their quantitative methods and analyses, students practice and apply quantitative skills. To help students connect classical and molecular genetic concepts and techniques, we report here procedures for characterizing the molecular lesions that confer a revertant phenotype. We suggest undertaking reversion of both missense and frameshift mutants to allow a more sophisticated molecular genetic analysis. These modifications and additions broaden the educational content of the traditional Ames test teaching laboratory, while simultaneously enhancing students' skills in experimental design, quantitative analysis, and data interpretation.