Assessment of genotoxic potential of two mycotoxins in the wing spot test of Drosophila melanogaster

Mycotoxins, the toxic products of molds, exposure causes serious adverse health problems in human, animals, and crops. Determining the potential genotoxic effects of these substances is, therefore, of great importance. We have evaluated the genotoxic toxicity of two trichothecenes - diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS) and T-2 toxin - using the wing somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster. The SMART is based on the principle that the loss of heterozygosis of recessive markers located on the left arm of chromosome 3 - multiple wing hairs (mwh) at the map position 0.3 and flare-3 (fIr(3)) at the map position 38.8 - may occur through various mechanisms such as mitotic recombination, mutation, deletion, half-translocation, chromosome loss, and nondisjunction. Both the mycotoxins were administered to third instar larvae (72 +/- 4 h old) at concentrations ranging from 5 to 40 mu M. Based on our results, DAS and T-2 toxins does not exert genotoxic effects up to a concentration of 40 mu M.