Department of Biology, University of Ankara, Tandogan, Ankara, Turkey.
Mutat Res. 2011 Feb 3;719(1-2):29-34. doi: 10.1016/j.mrgentox.2010.10.003. Epub 2010 Oct 21.
Heavy-metal contamination is an important environmental problem in the world. It is known that high concentrations of heavy metals cause toxic damage to cells and tissues. In this study the effects of copper (Cu(2+)) contamination were determined at the molecular and population levels in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) seedlings exposed to various concentrations of the metal ion. Inhibition of root growth, reduction in dry weight and total soluble protein content in the roots of eggplant seedlings were observed with increasing Cu(2+) concentrations. In ecotoxicology, analysis by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) has been applied as a suitable biomarker assay for plants. For the RAPD analyses, nine RAPD primers were found to produce unique polymorphic band patterns and were subsequently used to produce a total of 80 and 168 bands in the roots of untreated and treated eggplant seedlings, respectively. The changes in RAPD profiles after Cu(2+) contamination were considered as variations, i.e. as gain and/or loss of bands compared with control seedlings. These results suggest that changes in genomic template stability could be detected with RAPD profiles and this result could be compared with the growth, dry weight and total soluble protein content of the seedlings grown at various Cu(2+) concentrations. The measurements of parameters at the molecular and population levels are fundamental to accumulate valuable information and to understand clearly the effect of a contaminant on an organism in ecotoxicology.
重金属污染是世界范围内一个重要的环境问题。已知高浓度的重金属会对细胞和组织造成毒性损伤。在这项研究中，研究了暴露于不同浓度金属离子的茄子（Solanum melongena L.）幼苗在分子和种群水平上受到铜（Cu(2+)）污染的影响。随着 Cu(2+)浓度的增加，观察到茄子幼苗根的生长受到抑制，根的干重和总可溶性蛋白含量减少。在生态毒理学中，随机扩增多态性 DNA（RAPD）分析已被用作植物的合适生物标志物分析方法。对于 RAPD 分析，发现 9 个 RAPD 引物产生独特的多态性带型，随后分别用于产生未处理和处理的茄子幼苗根中的总共 80 和 168 条带。与对照幼苗相比，Cu(2+)污染后 RAPD 图谱的变化被认为是变异，即带的增加和/或缺失。这些结果表明，RAPD 图谱可以检测基因组模板稳定性的变化，并且可以将该结果与在不同 Cu(2+)浓度下生长的幼苗的生长、干重和总可溶性蛋白含量进行比较。在分子和种群水平上测量参数对于积累有价值的信息和在生态毒理学中清楚地了解污染物对生物体的影响是至关重要的。
