Summary The insecticide cyolan was examined for the induction of mitotic and meiotic abnormalities and changes in the banding patterns of M2 seed storage protein in Vicia faba plants. The used insecticide solution had mitodepressive effect and induced a wide range of mitotic and meiotic abnormalities. On the protein level, the results for the 3 major fractions of seed storage proteins in Vicia faba, as revealed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, showed mutagenic effects for insecticide. In general, all treatments caused decrease in the amount of proteins. Key words Genotoxicity, Cyolan, Chromosomal aberrations, Storage proteins, Vicia faba Pesticides have been employed on a wide scale in the Egyptian agriculture. The possible mutagenic and carcinogenic natures of some of the agricultural chemicals have been suggested by many authors (Badr and Ibrahim 1987, Kumar et al. 1995, Natarajan 1996, Burroughs et a/.1996. It has been proven that Vicia faba is an excellent model for the assay of chromosomal aberrations after chemical treatments (Ma 1982). Abdelsalem et al. (1993b) used electrophoretic banding patterns of seed storage proteins for monitoring the mutagenic effects of pesticides.The present work was planned to study the mutagenic effect of the organophosphorus insecticide cyolan using Vicia faba as a biological system.
Materials and methods
InsecticideCyolan (phospholan), [2-(diethoxy-phosphinylimino)1,3-dithiolane] is a systemic organophosphorus insecticide, widely used for the control of a number of insects. It is a 25% emulsifiable solution produced by American Cyanamid Company and applied for control leaf worm at rate of 750 g (ED) active ingredient per ha.
Cytological experimentsMitosis. Vicia faba seeds were germinated in water. After the roots were 2-3 cm long, they were placed in test solutions for 6, 12 and 24 h. Control seeds were placed in tap water. After each interval of treatment the roots were cut and fixed immediately in acetic acid-absolute ethyl alcohol (1: 3) for 24 h. The root tips were stained using the Feulgen squash technique. Six roots were examined for each concentration.Meiosis. Vicia faba plants were sprayed at the flowering stage with 3 concentrations of the insecticidal solution twice for 2 successive days. Control plants were sprayed with distilled water. Each group of plants consisted of 15 plants.Flower buds were gathered 24 h after the treatment, fixed in Carnoy's fluid and stained using the aceto-carmine smear method.Abnormalities were counted in the 1 st and 2nd meta-ana-, telophases and tetrads. Pollen mother cells (PMCs) of 6 plants at least were investigated for each treatment.