Biomonitoring the genotoxicity of environmental factors with transgenic plants

All organisms must react to constantly changing surroundings. Environmental factors are thus powerful forces continuously shaping the genomes of all s pecies. Induced genetic changes can be followed using a biomonitor - a livi ng organism that reacts to a given compound in the environment. A vital but challenging task is identifying organisms with which to study the influenc e of changing environmental conditions. Plants are especially valuable biom onitors. Here, we describe the use of transgenic plant systems to evaluate the genotoxicity of chemical and radiological compounds. We evaluate the po tential of further transgene-based systems for studying somatic and germlin e mutations.