Abstract-Based on the analysis of the morphological and genetic variability detected by the method of the protein gel electrophoresis in PAAG, the gene pool state of twelve adventive Helix pomatia L. grape snail pop ulations under the conditions of urbanized landscapes of south eastern and eastern parts of the modern area. According to the data obtained, most of the studied populations of this mollusk are in a satisfactory state. This is illustrated by the large values of their efficient numbers, the high level of heterozygosity, and decreased inbreeding. The structure of the population gene pools of the grape snail in the researched region is deter mined by their origin, genetic automatic processes, and microclimatic conditions of the urban environment.

On the basis of the analysis of genetic variation detectable by ISSR-PCR, the state of the gene pools of 14 populations of Roman snail Helix pomatia L. in the conditions of urbanized landscapes of the southeastern and eastern parts of the current range was examined. According to the data obtained, the major ity of the studied populations of this mollusk are in satisfactory condition. This is evidenced by the increased level of genetic diversity (He = 0.199 ± 0.025, / sh = 0.306 ± 0.035) and the high values of effective popula tion size, calculated, on the basis of the straight-line regression equation, between the pairwise genetic and geographic distances (Ne = 2.0-4.9) that are comparable with indigenous common species of terrestrial mollusks. Despite the high level of differentiation (Gst = 0.255, Фй = 0.233, Nm = 0.822), the population distri bution was not random (Rm =-0.591, p = 0.0004) and corresponded to the model of isolation by distance. It is hypothesized that, in the adventitious colonies of this mollusk, effective formation of a balanced genetic structure takes place that, in the context of biological and ecological features, facilitates its adaptation to the conditions of an urban environment and the population of the new territories of Eastern Europe.

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the genetic health of domesticated animals and its relationship with the level of inbreeding and genetic diversity. At the same time, insufficient attention is still paid to the study of intrabreed genetic diversity and intrabreed stratification. The main goal of our work was to analyze the intra- and interbreed genetic diversity of commercial pig breeds on the basis of DNA microsatellite (MS-DNA) polymorphism. In total, the work used data for 3,308 pigs, which represented 11 herds. The animals belonged to four commercial pig breeds – Duroc (DR), Yorkshire (YR), Landrace (LN) and Large White (LW). 12 microsatellite loci recommended by ISAG-FAO and arranged in one multiplex panel (S0101, S0155, S0228, S0355, S0386, SW24, SW240, SW72, SW857, SW911, SW936, SW951) were used as DNA markers. When analyzing the intra- and interbreed variability of 11 herds, we found that all studied breeds significantly differed in terms of the proportion of both rare and the most common alleles. At the same time, the noted differences were determined, first of all, by the variability between individual herds within their breed. The location of herd centroids is random and is not consistent with their breed affiliation at all. When individuals belonging to the same breed are combined, the centroids of pig breeds in the space of first two axes from a Principal Coordinate Analysis form two clusters. The first one contains the only red pig breed (DR) used in the analysis, while the second one contains white pig breeds. In six pig herds the Ne estimates were below 50 inds., in two herds they were in the range of 50–100 inds., and finally in three herds the Ne estimates exceeded 100 inds. The analysis of the genetic variability of pigs of four commercial breeds showed that the high level of interbreed differences is caused, first of all, by the high variability among pig herds within each studied breed. Such intrabreed stratification can be formed due to the manifestation of many causes: different genetic basis of the founders of intrabreed genealogical groups, geographical isolation, different directions of selection within individual herds, exchange of animals between separate herds, the use of inbreeding in the practice of selection together with isolation, etc. Important consequences of intrabreed stratification are an increase in the level of interherd diversity (which is not lower than the level of interbreed diversity) against the background of a decrease in variability within individual herds, as well as a significant deficit of heterozygotes and an increase in the role of negative genetic and demographic processes. Thus, the existence of genetic heterogeneity within commercial pig breeds should be considered as an essential element in the history of their formation and breeding.

The toxicity of carbon nanoparticles in recent years has attracted much attention due to their active use in industry, medicine and agriculture, which brings not only obvious benefits, but also potential danger to the environment and human health. Getting into the natural environment, bioaccumulating and bioconcentrating in them, carbon nanotubes pose a real threat to mammals, since due to their high migration ability they can penetrate the food chain of animals and humans. Therefore, the aim of this study was to study the genotoxicity of carbon nanotubes in in vivo experiments on laboratory mice. For this, based on the method of single cell alkaline gel electrophoresis assay, studies were conducted to determine the effect of aqueous colloidal solutions of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on genotoxicity towards various tissues in laboratory mice. During these acute and subacute in vivo experiments we have established that orally introduced multiwalled carbon nanotubes colloids damage deoxyribonucleic acid in various organs. In particular, 0.5 mg of multiwalled carbon nanotubes administered daily for 21 days have a prominent genotoxic effect. Thus, the obtained results have illustrated that multiwalled carbon nanotubes can potentially affect the genetic material in mammals, orally administered nanotubes increase the rate of nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid destruction.

Using the capillary electrophoresis of ISSR DNA fragments, the genetic structure of the adventi tious populations of Helix pomatia L. (Mollusca, Pulmonata) inhabiting the territory of Eastern Europe was studied. A significant decrease in genetic heterogeneity (He = 0.095 ± 0.002) and population differentiation level (Fst = 0.074) was revealed in comparison with similar data obtained using the ISSR method with elec trophoretic detection in agarose gel and allozymes in polyacrylamide gel. Similar to other methods, an effect of spatial isolation (RM =-0.476) was found on the basis of regression analysis between genetic and geo graphical distances. The effective population size, calculated with the help of M. Slatkin's model, turned out to be the largest of the previously calculated values (Ne = 41.8), which indicates the high viability of the stud ied groups of Roman snails in newly developed territories.

На основе метода щелочного гель-электрофореза изолированных клеток (ДНК-комет) изучен уровень разрушения ДНК в четырех адвентивных популяциях виноградной улитки (Helix pomatia L.), обитающих в г. Белгород и его окрестностях. Полученные данные свидетельствуют о повышении индекса ДНК-комет в колонии, подверженной действию пестицидов и выхлопных газов автотранспорта (пос. Майский, ИДК =0,305±0,070). Кроме того, в этой колонии отмечен наибольший процент клеток, находящихся в состоянии апоптоза 6,0±0,5%. Выдвигается предположение, согласно которому накопление генотоксичных компонентов в данном биотопе вызывает нарушение цитогенетической стабильности, сбои в работе репарационных процессов в клетках обитающих здесь улиток и увеличение разрывов в цепи ДНК. Ключевые слова: метод ДНК-комет, городская среда, наземный моллюск, генотоксичные поллютанты.

The state of three populations of the adventitious species H. pomatia was studied on the basis of conchiometric, phenetic and genetic methods. According to the obtained data, the two newly described populations from the Belgorod and Lugansk regions differ both in metric and morphological indicators, as well as in the frequencies of alleles of isoenzyme loci. The reason for such disparity may be genetic-automatic processes, natural selection in newly developed territories, as well as chaotic invasion from various localities, either from native range, or from nearby biotopes.

Using the polymorphic esterases loci, the genetic structure of the gastropod mollusk Fruticicola (Bradybaena) fruticum Мll., most of which lives in the south of the Central Russian Upland, was studied. For comparison, the samples were taken from the Romania, the North Caucasus, the Ural and the Vyatka regions. A total of the 1668 individuals were investigated. Of the 28 studied populations in 11 (39.3%), there was significant shortage of the heterozygotes. The level of the expected heterozygosity fluctuated in the range He = 0.1160.454. Using the non-parametric statistics (Chao1-bc method and 1st order jackknife method), the populations with potentially high and low diversity of the multilocus genotypes were identified. The indicators of the genetic disunity between populations averaged st = 0.276, Fst = 0.292. The principal component analysis and the Mantel correlation criterion Rм = 0.007 showed the absence of a reliable relationship between the geographical and genetic distance between populations, which indicates a violation of the isolation model by distance and confirms the thesis put forward by us that the urbanized forest-steppe landscape disrupts the natural migration processes, leads to the strong isolation and the genetic drift in the snail populations. At the same time, the phenomenon of increasing the degree of division of the populations against the background of reduced the allelic diversity, noted by us in many groups of bush snails, can be regarded as a shift in genetic equilibrium towards an increase in the interpopupulation diversity (according to the Wright model). The revealed absence of the effect of isolation by distance can be a consequence of the action of the stabilizing natural selection. The assumption of the dependence of the esterase alleles frequencies in the bush snail populations on the genetic (biochemical) characteristics of the food objects was proposed. The effective size, calculated using the Slatkin formula turned out to be comparable with the background, adventive and relict species of the terrestrial mollusks living in the study area (Ne = 2.27.6).