title: A note on the evaluation of fluctuation experiments.
abstract: Fluctuation analysis has emerged as a valuable tool for the measurement of mutation rates in single-cell populations. In this paper, we show how to make fuller use of the information supplied by the outcome of a fluctuation experiment. We shall extend Lea and Coulson's theory of the Luria-Delbrück distribution so that it accounts for residual mutation, reduced plating efficiency of mutants, and phenotypic lag, and establish a unifying method for the evaluation of fluctuation experiments in these cases and discuss its limitations. It will be proved that not all factors that might influence the distribution of mutant colonies in a fluctuation experiment can, in effect, be determined simultaneously. Nevertheless, it will be shown that the fluctuation-analytic approach to the measurement of mutation rates may retain its value in comparison with (or may even be superior to) alternative methods. Finally, we give some numerical examples to illustrate our results.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cancer Research, Borschkegasse 8a, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. a8505892@unet.univie.ac.at
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Angerer
mesh_terms: D016013:Likelihood Functions; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D012107:Research Design