ABSTRACT
Arsenic compounds are poisonous to organisms,which may induce chromosome aberration and gene mutation of cells.Arsenic compounds may also change the gene functions and cause carcinoma.After exposure to arsenic compounds,gene expressions in some cells were changed.The results of some molecular biology studies showed that both prokaryote and eukary-ote had responses to arsenic compounds at molecular levels.It will be important for unveiling the molecular mechanisms of ar-senic compoundseffects on cells and organisms and the arsenic-resistance of various cells and organism by studying the inter-actions between arsenic compounds and genes.In addition,it was recently found that arsenic trioxide could induce cell apoptosis by various cellular signal transduction pathways.