DNA fingerprinting analysis by a PCR based method for monitoring the genotoxic effects of heavy metals pollution

• Published in: Chemosphere Vol. 37; no. 14; pp. 2739 - 2749
• Main Authors: Conte, C., Mutti, I., Puglisi, P., Ferrarini, A., Regina, G., Maestri, E., Manmiroli, N.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.12.1998; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Biosensing Techniques; DNA; DNA Fingerprinting; DNA Primers; DNA, Plant - drug effects; DNA, Plant - metabolism; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on plants and fungi; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental pollutants; Environmental Pollutants - toxicity; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - drug effects; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - genetics; Genes; genotoxic effect; Heavy metals; Metals, Heavy - toxicity; Monitoring; Mutagenicity Tests; Mutagens; PCR; Plants (botany); Pollution; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Random processes; RAPD analysis; Risks; Seeds; Toxicity; RAPD analysis; Environmental pollutants; DNA fingerprinting; RAPD; genotoxic effect; PCR; Cytotoxicity; Random amplified polymorphic DNA marker; Heavy metal; Arabidopsis thaliana; Polymerase chain reaction; Pollutant; Mutagenesis; Cruciferae; Dicotyledones; DNA; Fingerprint method; Angiospermae; Spermatophyta; Experimental plant
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/S0045-6535(98)00317-8

Environmental pollutants can have deleterious effects on living organisms. At high concentrations, or at high activities, they can cause acute toxicity damaging cells, tissues and organs. Chronic toxification, on the other hand, can also cause serious damage from bio-accumulation. Plants, as biological indicators, can measure both the actual and the potential effects of pollutants, when they are used to measure effects of heavy metals. We have applied a system of “molecular fingerprinting” based on PCR (RAPD: Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) to the evaluation of the genotoxic effects of heavy metals in order to estimate the environmental risk connected with their potential mutagenic effects in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, ecotype Columbia. Genomic DNA was utilised for RAPD analysis using random primers (10-mers). DNA from plants exposed to heavy metals solution displayed polymorphic bands which were not detectable in DNA of unexposed plants. The enhanced formation of RAPD polymorphisms was also observed in DNA of plant exposed in situ to an industrial pollution source. The comparison between “unexposed” and “exposed” genomes show that RAPD analysis can be used to evaluate how the environmental pollutants modify the structure of DNA in living organisms.