Evaluation of cadmium genotoxicity in Lactuca sativa L. using nuclear microsatellites

Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential element and is a widespread environmental pollutant. Exposure to cadmium can result in cytotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. Mutagenesis is indicative of genetic instability and can be assayed using microsatellites. Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are composed of tandem repeats of short sequence motifs (1–6 bp) that are polymorphic, mainly in the number of tandem repeated units. Therefore, chromosomic mutations like inversion, deletion or translocation and point mutations can be detected by this type of molecular marker. In this study we have evaluated the mutagenic/genotoxic effects of cadmium in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Five-week-old lettuce plants grown in a modified Hoagland's medium were exposed for a further 14 days to a medium containing 100 μM Cd(NO₃)₂. Genomic DNA was extracted from lettuce leaves and roots, harvested at days 0, 1, 3, 7 and 14, and nine SSRs were tested, amplified and analysed to evaluate microsatellite instability (MSI). Mutagenic effects of cadmium on microsatellite DNA loci were assessed and no MSI was observed in the used markers.