ABSTRACT
Monitoring the effects of environmental toxic and genotoxic substances has gained increased importance in recent times. Assessment of environmental samples for the presence of genotoxins has become a valuable approach for evaluating the genotoxic potentials of environmental pollutants. Effects at the organismic level, such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-damage and mutagenesis would eventually result in contaminant genotoxic effects at macromolecular levels. Since environmental genotoxicity assessment approaches provide information on such effects they could be potential environmental monitoring tools. The umu-assay and the DNA-unwinding assays are helpful genotoxicity assessment tools for the management of surface water and effluent quality due to the presence of genotoxic substances. While the umu-assay is a prokaryotic test system the DNA-unwinding assay is a eukaryotic test system. The umu-assay is included in the International Standardization Organisation. A new development is extended using the microplate assay by a genotoxicity sensor with the umu bacteria and the enzymatic amplification on a so-called sandwich membrane.
