Home > D. General pathology > Pathogenic agents > mutagens
mutagens
Sunday 12 March 2006
Definition: In biology, a mutagen (Latin, literally origin of change) is an agent that changes the genetic information (usually DNA) of an organism and thus increases the number of mutations above the natural background level.
Mutagens are usually chemical compounds or ionizing radiation.
The Ames test is one method to determine how mutagenic an agent is.
See also
carcinogens
