Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2023 Mar 1;252:114638. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114638. Epub 2023 Feb 13.
Biodiversity is currently declining worldwide. Several threats have been identified such as habitat loss and climate change. It is unknown if and how air pollution can work in addition or in synergy to these threats, contributing to the decline of current species and/or local extinction. Few studies have investigated the effects of particulate matter (PM), the main component of air pollution, on insects, and no studies have investigated its genotoxic effects through Micronucleus assay. Butterflies play an important role in the environment, as herbivores during larval stages, and as pollinators as adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genotoxic effects of PM from different sites along a gradient of population urbanization, on a common cabbage butterfly species (Pieris brassicae). PM was collected from April to September in an urban (Turin, Italy), a suburban (Druento, Italy) and a mountain site (Ceresole Reale, Italy) with different urbanization levels. P. brassicae larvae (n = 218) were reared in the laboratory under controlled conditions (26 °C, L:D 15:9) on cabbage plants (average 9.2 days), and they were exposed to PM organic extracts (20 and 40 m/mL) or dimethyl sulfoxide (controls) through vaporization. After exposure, larvae were dissected and cells were used for the Micronucleus (MN) assay. Results showed that all PM extracts induced significant DNA damage in exposed larvae compared to controls, and that increasing the PM dose (from 20 to 40 m/mL) increased genotoxic effects. However, we did not detect any significant differences between sites with different urbanization levels. In conclusion, PM at different concentrations induced genotoxic effects on larvae of a common butterfly species. More alarmingly, PM could work in addition to and/or in synergy with other compounds (e.g. pesticides) and, especially on species already threatened by other factors (e.g. fragmentation), thus affecting the vitality of populations, leading to local extinctions.
生物多样性目前正在全球范围内减少。已经确定了一些威胁，例如栖息地丧失和气候变化。目前还不清楚空气污染是否以及如何除了这些威胁之外，或者协同作用，导致当前物种的减少和/或局部灭绝。很少有研究调查了颗粒物 (PM)，空气污染的主要成分，对昆虫的影响，也没有研究通过微核试验调查其遗传毒性作用。蝴蝶在环境中起着重要的作用，幼虫期是食草动物，成虫期是传粉者。本研究旨在评估不同城市化梯度地点的 PM 对一种常见的甘蓝菜粉蝶（Pieris brassicae）的遗传毒性作用。从 4 月到 9 月，在一个城市化（意大利都灵）、一个郊区（意大利德鲁恩托）和一个山区（意大利切雷索雷亚莱）地点采集 PM，这些地点的城市化程度不同。将 P. brassicae 幼虫（n=218）在实验室中于控制条件下（26°C，L:D 15:9）在白菜植物上饲养（平均 9.2 天），并通过蒸发将它们暴露于 PM 有机提取物（20 和 40 m/mL）或二甲基亚砜（对照）中。暴露后，幼虫被解剖，细胞用于微核（MN）试验。结果表明，与对照相比，所有 PM 提取物都在暴露的幼虫中诱导了显著的 DNA 损伤，并且增加 PM 剂量（从 20 增加到 40 m/mL）增加了遗传毒性作用。然而，我们没有检测到不同城市化水平的地点之间有任何显著差异。总之，不同浓度的 PM 对一种常见蝴蝶物种的幼虫诱导了遗传毒性作用。更令人震惊的是，PM 可能与其他化合物（例如杀虫剂）协同作用，并且尤其对已经受到其他因素威胁的物种（例如片段化），从而影响种群的活力，导致局部灭绝。
