Publication Date:
2015-11-04
Description:
Fluctuation analysis is the standard experimental method for measuring mutation rates in micro-organisms. The appearance of mutants is classically described by a Luria-Delbrück distribution composed of two parameters: the number of mutations per culture ( m ) and the differential growth rate between mutant and wild-type cells ( b ). A precise estimation of these two parameters is a prerequisite to the calculation of the mutation rate. Here, we developed bz-rates , a Web tool to calculate mutation rates that provides three useful advances over existing Web tools. First, it allows taking into account b , the differential growth rate between mutant and wild-type cells, in the estimation of m with the generating function. Second, bz-rates allows the user to take into account a deviation from the Luria-Delbrück distribution called z , the plating efficiency, in the estimation of m . Finally, the Web site provides a graphical visualization of the goodness-of-fit between the experimental data and the model. bz-rates is accessible at http://www.lcqb.upmc.fr/bzrates .
Electronic ISSN:
2160-1836
Topics:
Biology
