Detection of Environmental Mutagens Through Plant Bioassays

Abstract

Plants are present in almost all areas of the world and can accumulate many chemical compounds present in the soil, water, and atmosphere. As these chemicals which are potentially mutagenic or carcinogenic are absorbed by the plants sharing the same environment with us, bioassays on plants can be used to detect the presence of environmental hazards. Another reason for selecting plants for assessing adverse efects of these chemicals is the ease of experimentation with plants. Evaluating the efect of a substance on basic plant characteristics such as growth, survival, or reproduction is straightforward and repeatable. Thus, various plant species are commonly utilized as indicators of adverse environmental conditions. This chapter covers the detection of environmental mutagens through plant bioassays, considering the increasing importance of biomonitoring using plants for assessing the mutagenicity of relevant chemicals and industrial waste. From this point of view, a detailed literature search was made on the subject. The genotoxic, cytotoxic, and molecular studies have been investigated and the most useful and important parts and key points of these methods were summarized. This review would be useful for scientists who are planning to conduct research on plant bioassays with diferent types of methods and chemicals.

Phytoindication of environmental mutagenesis in the in-situ conditions using the pollen of selected species of native flora

“…These species mostly belonged to synanthropic flora for their widespread occurrence in chosen areas. The impact of traffic emissions, currently a significant source of xenobiotic exposure in the urban environment, is presented at traffic junctions in localities Banská Bystrica, Kostiviarska, Žiar nad Hronom (Partizánska street), Považská Bystrica centre, Žilina -Budatín and Bratislava Istrochem in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017). The increase of average induction indexes at the studied localities clearly demonstrates the xenobiotic exposure influence, especially traffic emissions, on genotoxic deterioration of genetic material.…”

“…Many studies have developed numerous methods for the detection of mutagenicity and genotoxicity in "in vivo" conditions based on the accepted plant tests in WHO / IPCS, which are currently commonly used in the Arabidopsis thaliana, Allium / Vicia chromosome aberration test, Tradescantia stamen hair mutation and micronucleus analysis, Sister chromatid exchange, Fluorescent in situ hybridization, Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL assay), Singlecell gel electrophoresis (comet assay), Random amplified polymorphic DNA polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) technique, Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique, Flow cytometry (cf. Aksoy 2017) The use of plants as models for tests of environmental ecotoxicity and ecogenotoxicity was reported by, e.g., Paradiž & Lovka (1999), Pogányová et al (2017Pogányová et al ( , 2019, Mičieta & Murín (2018).…”

Improving Plant-Based Genotoxicity Bioassay for Trace Metal-Contaminated Water: Insights from Myriophyllum Aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. and Cd.

“…For the devising of eco-toxicological tests, previous screenings need to be undertaken to choose the most suitable organ. Generally, roots of land plants are used for practical reasons (Aksoy, 2017), thus raising doubts not only about their validity as the most sensitive part but also on the reliability of the exposure methods. Obviously, plants exposed to Cd-contaminated waters are mostly the macrophytes, with the whole body in contact with the pollutant.…”

“…Actually, only if the conduction of genotoxicity assays is added to the analysis of conventional water quality parameters, the presence of mutagens in water is considered to be reliably assessed (Ohe et al 2004). As for the test organisms, plants are regarded as ideal assay systems for screening and monitoring mutagens in the environment, providing vital information from the viewpoint of preserving biodiversity and ecological resources (Panda and Panda 2002;Aksoy 2017). Plant organisms are affected by water pollution earlier than other organisms, since they are the rst interface between abiotic and biotic constituents of an ecosystem and, therefore, considered as early warning systems, essential for intercepting contaminations in advance (Ceschin et al 2020) In addition, AFLP can offer the possibility of detecting large portions of the genome at the populational level at relatively low cost (Caballero et al 2013).…”

Improving plant-based genotoxicity bioassay through AFLP technique for trace metal-contaminated water: insights from Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. and Cd

“…In practice, only when genotoxicity assays are added to the analysis of conventional water quality parameters, the presence of mutagens in water is considered to be reliably assessed (Ohe et al 2004). As for the test organisms, plants are regarded as ideal assay systems for screening and monitoring mutagens in the environment, providing important information in efforts to conserve biodiversity and ecological resources (Panda and Panda 2002;Aksoy 2017). Plants are affected by water pollution earlier than other organisms since they are the first interface between abiotic and biotic constituents of an ecosystem and, therefore, considered as early warning systems, essential for intercepting contaminations in advance (Ceschin et al 2020).…”