Preferential localization of chemically induced breaks in heterochromatic regions of Vicia faba and Allium cepa chromosomes—II. 4-epoxyethyl-1,2-epoxy-cyclohexane interacts specifically with highly repetitive sequences of DNA in Allium cepa

• Published in: Environmental and experimental botany Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 127 - 135
• Main Authors: Nuti Ronchi, V., Bonatti, S., Durante, M., Turchi, G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 1986; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: aberrations; Allium cepa; Biological and medical sciences; Chemical mutagenesis; chromosome breakage; DNA; Medical sciences; mutagenicity; Toxicology; Vicia faba; Allium cepa; High repeated sequence; Monocotyledones; Mutagenicity testing; Vicia faba; Liliaceae; Chromosome break; Leguminosae; Mutagenesis; Dicotyledones; DNA; Angiospermae; Spermatophyta; Localization
• ISSN: 0098-8472; 1873-7307
• DOI: 10.1016/0098-8472(86)90005-5

The specificity of the clastogenetic effect of 4-epoxyethyl-1,2-epoxy-cyclohexane (VCH-diepoxide) on Vicia faba and Allium cepa has been investigated. Cytogenetic effect was estimated by Giemsa staining banding techniques on metaphase and anaphase analysis of chromatid and chromosome aberrations. Aberrations induced by VCH-diepoxide were preferentially located on particular Giemsa stained bands of M and S chromosomes in Vicia and in heterochromatic telomeric regions in Allium. The percentage of micronuclei and chromatin bodies (structures resembling chromocenters) into the cytoplasm was also estimated. In situ hybridization technique was used to demonstrate the presence of highly repetitive DNA sequences in the chromatin bodies extruded from Allium nuclei. The data suggest that an amplification process may be induced by the chemical compound.