Genotoxic activity of Eucalyptus globulus essential oil in Aspergillus nidulans diploid cells.

Eucalyptus globulus essential oil was evaluated for its genotoxic potential using a somatic segregation assay and a diploid strain of the fungus Aspergillus nidulans, heterozygous for nutritional and conidia color markers. The main compounds of the current essential oil sample were eucalyptol (49.0 %), alpha-pinene (8.9), beta-pinene (1.5), globulol (6.9), alpha-eudesmol (1.12), spathulenol (1.42), gamma-cadinene (1.45), trans-beta-elemenone (1.23) and aromandendrene (2.3), totaling 74 % of oil. Oil at 0.12 and 0.25 microL/mL was found to increase the mitotic instability of the original diploid strain and the number of diploid mitotic recombinants of A. nidulans. The genotoxicity of the oil was associated with the induction of mitotic crossing-over or with oil-broken chromosomes.