Biologia plantarum 46:185-188, 2003 | DOI: 10.1023/B:BIOP.0000022249.86426.2a
DNA Damage Measured by the Comet Assay in Eight Agronomic Plants
- 1 Institute of Experimental Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague 6, Czech Republic
- 2 Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, Korea
For most crops growing in polluted areas or treated with agricultural chemicals, no genotoxicity assays are available. We have studied the possibility of using the alkaline protocol of the plant-based molecular assay - the Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis (SCGE) assay (also called Comet assay) as a method for detecting induced DNA damage in 8 agronomic important plants (ordered according to the diameter of the nuclei): sugar beet, alfalfa, tobacco, lentil, maize, potato, hard wheat, and bread wheat. The monofunctional alkylating agent ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) was applied as a model genotoxic agent on young excised leaves of the tested crops for 18 h at 26 °C in the dark. With increasing concentrations of 2 to 10 mM EMS, the DNA damage, expressed by the averaged median tail moment values, significantly increased in nuclei of all crops studied. No correlation between the diameter of nuclei and sensitivity to EMS treatment was observed. The data obtained demonstrate the feasibility of using the Comet assay for detecting induced DNA damage in crops.
Keywords: Beta vulgaris; ethyl methanesulphonate; Lens esculenta; Medicago sativa; Nicotiana tabacum; single cell gel electrophoresis; Solanum tuberosum; Triticum aestivum; Triticum durum; Zea mays
Subjects: Beta vulgaris; Comet assay; DNA damage, Comet assay; ethyl methanesulphonate; Lens culinaris (Lens esculenta); Medicago sativa; Nicotiana tabacum; single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE, Comet assay); Solanum tuberosum; sugar beet, DNA damage; Triticum aestivum; Triticum durum; Zea mays
Published: September 1, 2003 Show citation
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