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To study the ability of metal salts and pharmacologically active drugs to induce the oxidative stress and SOS response in bacteria, a set of lux-biosensors was used. The sensors were based on three E. coli strains carrying recombinant plasmids with lux-operon fused to the promoters of SoxS (superoxide dismutase), KatG (catalase-peroxidase) and ColD (colicin D) genes. The created biosensors were used to analyze the activity of 47 substances, with 16 of them identified to induce SOS-response and 6 - to induce oxidative stress. The results observed were compared to the previously published data on the mutagenic activity of the same 47 substances evaluated using Ames test. The comparison had shown full coincidence for 42 from 47 substances analyzed. We discuss the possibility to use the lux-based biosensors for the screening of the genetic activity of chemical compounds.

It has been demonstrated that deuterium oxide enhances the SOS response of Escherichia coli cells induced by chemical genotoxicants and mutagens. This demonstrates that the heavy nonradioactive hydrogen isotope deuterium can be considered to be a comutagen.

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