engleski

Biological monitoring of contaminant effects on marine organisms (Biomonitoring)

Field and laboratory data on the genotoxic effects of pollutants accentuate the complexity of biological impact of mixed pollution in the marine environment. Due to the varying actions of pollutants, the biological responses may be complex. Genotoxic effects of pollutants are further complicated by the presence of pollutant groups that may interact with DNA or can modify DNA synthesis and repair. Direct chemical analysis of pollutants and their speciation is time consuming and very complex. Their single effects on mussels are certainly modulated in mixed pollution, and could hardly give satisfactory insights about their genotoxic properties. The use of DNA damage (single-strand breaks and DNA crosslinks) as a final biomarker of environmental pollution has enabled us to clasify polluted locations according to their genotoxic impact on mussel DNA. At the same time it gave additional information about the genotoxic risk for mussels exposed to mixed environmental pollution.

genotoxicity; DNA damage; mussel

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