Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A test used to determine the mutagenic potential of a substance, in which salmonella bacteria that are unable to synthesize histidine are introduced into the substance, and the substance is deemed mutagenic and carcinogenic if the bacteria regain the ability to synthesize histidine.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Bruce Ames, (born 1928), American biochemist.]

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