The use of comet assay in plant toxicology: recent advances

• Type: Another Publication in an International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2015-06-30

Authors

Maria da Conceição Santos (Author) FCUP; Bertrand Pourrut (Author) Other; Jose Miguel Pimenta Ferreira Oliveira (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Frontiers in Genetics

Vol. 6

ISSN: 1664-8021

Publisher: Frontiers Media

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 56 Citations

Scopus - 76 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00P-BEC

DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2015.00216

Abstract (EN): The systematic study of genotoxicity in plants induced by contaminants and other stress agents has been hindered to date by the lack of reliable and robust biomarkers. The comet assay is a versatile and sensitive method for the evaluation of DNA damages and DNA repair capacity at single-cell level. Due to its simplicity and sensitivity, and the small number of cells required to obtain robust results, the use of plant comet assay has drastically increased in the last decade. For years its use was restricted to a few model species, e.g., Allium cepa, Nicotiana tabacum, Vicia faba, or Arabidopsis thaliana but this number largely increased in the last years. Plant comet assay has been used to study the genotoxic impact of radiation, chemicals including pesticides, phytocompounds, heavy metals, nanoparticles or contaminated complex matrices. Here we will review the most recent data on the use of this technique as a standard approach for studying the genotoxic effects of different stress conditions on plants. Also, we will discuss the integration of information provided by the comet assay with other DNA-damage indicators, and with cellular responses including oxidative stress, cell division or cell death. Finally, we will focus on putative relations between transcripts related with DNA damage pathways, DNA replication and repair, oxidative stress and cell cycle progression that have been identified in plant cells with comet assays demonstrating DNA damage.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 18