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Genotoxicity of organic pollutants in source of drinking water on microalga Euglena gracilis

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Abstract

The potential toxicities of organic pollutants in the drinking water source at Meiliang Bay of Lake Taihu were investigated by comet assay and antioxidant enzyme approach on microalgae Euglena gracilis. The organic extracts of the water samples could induce DNA damage on microalgae cells. Statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed at groups of 0.3×, 3× and 10× concentrations compared with the control and a solvent control (DMSO). The organic extracts also affected antioxidant enzyme activity and induced lipid peroxidation in the microalga. In the high dose group, there was an obvious increase in SOD content (P < 0.05). The results suggest that the concentrated organics from water sample extracts have adversary effects on E. gracilis and could possibly damage the ecosystem.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No. 2008CB418003), National Nature Science Foundation of China-Guangdong Governmental Funding (U0733007) and the Social Development Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BS2007049). Great thanks go to Professor Nils Ekelund, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden for the gift of microalgae.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse and School of the Environment, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, 210093, Nanjing, China

    Mei Li, Xiangyu Gao, Yue Xu, Xin Qian & Yibin Cui

  2. School of Life Science, Linyi Normal University, 276005, Linyi, China

    Changwei Hu

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA, UK

    Murray T. Brown

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  1. Mei Li
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  2. Changwei Hu
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Correspondence to Yibin Cui.

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Li, M., Hu, C., Gao, X. et al. Genotoxicity of organic pollutants in source of drinking water on microalga Euglena gracilis . Ecotoxicology 18, 669–676 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-009-0343-0

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