Assessment of Genotoxic Activity of Para-nitrophenol in Higher Plant Using Arbitrarily Primed- polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR)

Paranitrophenol is a common toxic environmental pollutant; the aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of the DNA fingerprinting by AP-PCR assay to detect the DNA damage in the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) exposed to different concentrations of paranitrophenol (4.0-720 nM). The changes occurring in the fingerprint patterns were likely to be the result of paranitrophenol-induced DNA damage. These changes include variation in band loss and gain. Paranitrophenol was able to induce DNA damage in concentration-related manner with effectiveness at higher concentrations. A total of 488 bands were clearly identified and 39% markers were polymorphic. Genetic distance between control and exposed plant samples served to produce a dendrogram. The dendrogram comprised three main clusters, one of which including control and plant samples exposed to lower concentrations and the other two clusters included plants exposed to higher concentrations. This study clearly demonstrates that AP-PCR is highly useful for assessing DNA damage in plant exposed to chemicals. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the applicability of paranitrophenol for inducing DNA damage in higher plants.