A novel parameter in comet assay measurements

Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis (SCGE) or Comet assay is a very sensitive method for assessing damages in DNA on a single cell level. It has found many applications in fields where genotoxic activity could be an issue. In environmental monitoring, health care, food industry Comet assay is used with increasing popularity. For verifying the results obtained by this method many parameters could be monitored. To that end several software packages exist. In the conditions that we are suggesting one more parameter could be measured - comet shape. We argue that this parameter could be an advantage of the Comet Assay when the way of DNA damaging needs to be predicted.