Effects of some environmental pollutants on genotoxic and estrogen-related receptor (ERR) gene expression on drosophila melanogaster

Chemicals that are found in high concentrations in the environment due to domestic, industrial or agricultural applications seriously threaten the environment and cause many negative effects on aquatic and terrestrial creatures. From this aspect, it is very important to know the genotoxic effects of environmental pollutants. There are various tests for determining the genotoxic activities of chemicals however "Drosophila Wing Somatic Mutation and Recombination Test (SMART)" is the most preferred one among the others due to many advantages it provides. Especially its enzyme systems and genetic mechanisms make Drosophila melanogaster a perfect model organism for determination of genotoxic activities of chemicals. In this study, the research regarding many prevalent environmental pollutants (Bisphenol A (BPA), Nonylphenol (NP), Diethylstilbestrol (DES), 17-β estradiol (E2), Tributyltin (TBT) and Methidathion (MD)), used in various fields by an in vivo test named SMART and also regarding the effect of these chemicals on the estrogen-related receptor (ERR) gene expression of D. melanogaster was conducted. In the first section of the study, the genotoxic effects of environmental chemicals were researched on mature individuals developed from larvae exposed to various concentrations of these chemicals. In the genotoxicity and antigenotoxicity studies, the wings of the trans–heterozygous flies were scored under 400X magnification for the presence of mwh and/or flr spots. These spots can be due to different genotoxic events such as mitotic recombination or mutation (deletion, point mutation, specific types of translocation, etc.) In the second section of the study, we studied by using real time PCR to evaluate the effects of environmental chemicals on the expression of ERR gene of D. melanogaster. The results of this study showed that BPA, NP, DES, TBT and MD influence the expression of ERR in D. melanogaster. The results obtained from SMART showed that BFA, NF, DES, E2 and MD didn't cause genotoxic effect on Drosophila while the highest concentration of TBT caused genotoxic effects.