Novel Low-Cost, Non-animal "Slime Mold" Model System May Predict Mammalian Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity

Legislation aimed at reducing animal use and the prohibitive costs associated with toxicological safety testing in animals represent major challenges for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and agrochemical industries and their quest to bring new compounds to market. Our studies illustrate that a simple social amoeba (a.k.a., slime mold) represents a promising novel low-cost, non-animal model system that is predictive of mammalian toxicity and amenable to molecular genetic technology to understand the mechanisms underlying toxicity.