Improving plant-based genotoxicity bioassay through AFLP technique for trace metal-contaminated water: insights from Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. and Cd

Coppi, Andrea; Colzi, Ilaria; Lastrucci, Lorenzo; Castellani, Maria Beatrice; Gonnelli, Cristina

Improving plant-based genotoxicity bioassay through AFLP technique for trace metal-contaminated water: insights from Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. and Cd

2022

Coppi, Andrea | Colzi, Ilaria | Lastrucci, Lorenzo | Castellani, Maria Beatrice | Gonnelli, Cristina

In this work, we evaluated whether the species Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. can be a promising material for devising reliable eco-toxicological tests for Cd-contaminated waters. Plants of M. aquaticum were exposed to Cd, using different concentrations (1 mg L⁻¹, 2.5 mg L⁻¹, 5 mg L⁻¹, and 10 mg L⁻¹; experiment 1) and exposure times (2.5 mg L⁻¹ for 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, and 21 days; experiment 2). Plant growth and Cd accumulation were monitored during the treatment period, and Cd genotoxicity was assessed by analyzing Cd-induced changes in the AFLP fingerprinting profiles using famEcoRI₍TAC₎/MseI₍ATG₎ and hexEcoRI₍ACG₎/MseI₍ATG₎ pairs of primers. Root and shoot growth was reduced already at the lowest Cd concentration used (about 20% reduction for roots and 60% for shoots at 1 mg L⁻¹; experiment 1) and after 7 days (about 50% reduction for roots and 70% for shoots; experiment 2). The primer combinations produced 154 and 191 polymorphic loci for experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Mean genetic diversity (He) reduction among the treatment groups was observed starting from 2.5 mg L⁻¹ (He 0.211 treated vs 0.236 control; experiment 1) and after 3 days (He 0.169 treated vs 0.261 control; experiment 2), indicating that results obtained from AFLP profiles did not match with plant growth measurements. Therefore, our results showed that M. aquaticum proved to be a suitable model system for the investigation of Cd genotoxicity through AFLP fingerprinting profile, whereas the more classic eco-toxicological tests based only on biometric parameters could not correctly estimate the risk associated with undetected Cd genotoxicity.

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