TRANSGENIC CAENORHABDITIS-ELEGANS STRAINS AS BIOSENSORS

Toxicity bioassays rely largely on lethality measurements. Such assays are generally lengthy and expensive, and provide little information o n mechanisms of toxicity. A desire to understand the mechanisms by whi ch cells respond to physical and chemical stresses has led to interest in measuring stress proteins as toxicological endpoints. Transgenic s trains of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that carry a reporter en zyme under control of a stress-inducible promoter have been created. T he reporter is easily quantified in intact nematodes, and it responds to a wide range of chemical stressors. Therefore, transgenic C. elegan s can provide the basis for a wide range of quick, simple and informat ive bioassays.