Mutagenic And Recombinogenic Assessment Of Widely Used Pesticides On Drosophila Melanogaster

Abstract

The mutagenic potential of selected widely used pesticides: p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT); fenitrothion; propoxur; deltamethrin, bifenthrin; imidacloprid and thiametoxam was assessed using the wing spot test. Third-instar larvae of standard Drosophila melanogaster cross (ST), trans-heterozygous for the third chromosome recessive markers, multiple wing hairs (mwh) and flare (flr3) were chronically exposed to test compounds. Feeding ended with pupation of the surviving larvae. Genetic changes induced in somatic cells of the wing’s imaginal discs, mutant spots observed in marker-heterozygous (MH) and balancer-heterozygous (BH) flies were compared using the wing spot test, to estimate the genotoxic effects of these pesticides. In conclusion, exposure to 30 mg/mL deltamethrin, 40 mg/mL imidacloprid, 100 µg/mL DDT showed mutagenic and recombinagenic effects in the Drosophila wing spot test. In addition the results of chronic treatments performed at high doses showed mutagenic and recombinagenic effects in both genotypes. © 2019, Trakia University. All rights reserved.