Malathion and dithane induce DNA damage inVicia faba

Abstract

The increasing use of pesticides such as malathion and dithane in agriculture causes environmental mutagenicity. However, their genotoxicity in edible crops is seldom assessed. In this study, the genotoxic potential of malathion and dithane was evaluated in the roots of Vicia faba L. All three concentrations (0.05, 0.1, and 0.2%) of malathion and dithane tested resulted in a significant decrease in root length and inhibited seed germination. Cytological observations showed that the mitotic frequency in the root meristematic cells decreased parallel to the increase in concentrations, and the increase in chromosome aberrations and micronuclei frequency was concentration dependent. Alkaline comet assay revealed significant onset of DNA damage at all tested concentrations. For the randomly amplified polymorphic (RAPD)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses, 10 random RAPD primers were found to produce 116 unique polymorphic RAPD band fragments of 223-3139 bp. Each primer generated 3-15 RAPD bands on an average. The percentage of polymorphic DNA fragments was higher in malathion-exposed plants than dithane ones. The changes in RAPD profiles included disappearance and/or appearance of DNA bands in malathion and dithane treatment. Hence, DNA damage observed by the cytogenetic endpoints and comet assay corroborated with RAPD-PCR analysis. A total of 15 new protein bands of molecular weight ranging 11.894-226.669 kDa were observed in roots of Vicia plants that were exposed to the pesticides. The number of new protein bands was higher in malathion-treated DNA samples than in dithane-treated ones. Based on the results, we conclude that the pesticides can alter genomic template stability and change protein profiles. Malathion was more genotoxic than dithane. Therefore, RAPD assays can be useful in determining genotoxicity of pesticides in V. faba and other crops along with other quantitative parameters.

Assessment of malathion toxicity on cytophysiological activity, DNA damage and antioxidant enzymes in root of Allium cepa model

“…The observed MI of roots was lower at 0.13, 0.26, 0.39 and 0.52 g/L malathion treatment in comparison to control. The inhibition based on concentration for MI described the cytotoxicity of malathion in A. cepa L. Similar effects on mitotic activities were reported in many studies 12,48,49 and it has been attributed by the interference of insecticides in the normal cell cycle leading to decrease in the number of dividing cells.…”

“…Malathion exposure affected physiological activity and yield in potato and Picea sitchensis 10,11 . Malathion also alters mitotic activity, chromosomal structure and changes stability of DNA template and expression of proteins 12 .…”

Use of DNA adduct and histopathological defects as indications for bio-persistence potency of zinc oxide nanoparticles in gastropod, Monacha cartusiana (Mǜller) after short-term exposure

“…Variations in ISSR-PCR patterns stimulated by chemicals can be interpreted due to differences in the stability of genomic DNA template. The present findings reported different patterns of polymorphism for the six studied primers in the amplification of DNA bands in samples from the treated and recovered snails, either as loss and/or gain [ 53 ]. Exposure to ZnONPs could provoke genetic diseases owing to their reported genotoxicity in the current study.…”