Drosophila Melanogaster as a Test-System for Assessment of the Air Pollution by Using the City of Kazan as an Example

Abstract

Drosophila as a model for toxicological study is a simple and effective test-system owing to (i) availability of a wide range of accessible methods allowing the integral assessment of the negative effect of the factor under study on the vital characteristics at all levels of the organism vital activity (from molecular to population), (ii) possibility of obtaining results within a relatively short period of time (from 2 days to 2 weeks); (iii) low price of working methods, (iv) absence of specific requirements as to work with an object. The aim of the work was to assess the air quality in the city of Kazan based on the change of the drosophila�s vital parameters: the survival rate at the stage of embryogenesis, the fertility (the number of eggs), the locomotion, the degree of the intestines tissue damage and the level of DNA-comets. To analyze the air quality, we selected such city zones as, Privolzhsky (1), Moskovsky (2), Sovetsky (3). It was shown that flies that were in zones 1 and 2, but not in 3, are characterized by a decrease in fertility, an increase in embryonic death of offspring, intestines tissue damage and DNA damage.