Screening and evaluating of heavy metal (Cu, Cr and Cd) sensitive and tolerant barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars by using a molecular marker technique

In this study, it was aimed to determine tolerant and sensitive barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars to copper (CuSO4), cadmium (CdCl2) and chromium (K2Cr2O7) toxicity by using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. Heavy metal stress conditions for barley cultivars was done by adding different concentrations of CuSO4, CdCl2, K2Cr2O7 into ½ Hewitt culture medium. The control plant materials were grown in only ½ Hewitt culture medium supplemented with 0.3 ?M CuSO4. In general, the root and stem lengths, and biomass accumulations of all barley cultivars were significantly decreased (P<0.05) by an increasing (0-225 ?M) the copper, chromium and cadmium concentrations. It was revealed by RAPD studies that all three heavy metals have genotoxic affects on the genomes of barley cultivars. In total, we had evaluated 6866 PCR bands in RAPD profiles. Under the light of RAPD and physiological parameters, Aydanhanım, Zeynelağa and Başgül barley cultivars were determined as tolerant to heavy metal stress. On the other hand, Orza-96, Tarım 92 and Bülbül-89 barley cultivars were sensitive to heavy metals. In the present study, it was shown that the RAPD marker technique can be used to screen and classify the plants against to heavy metal stress. Key Words: Barley cultivars, Heavy metal stress, Growth, RAPD, Genotoxicity