An Overview of Comet Assay Application for Detecting DNA Damage in Aquatic Animals

Nan Jiang, Saima Naz, Yulin Ma, Qudrat Ullah, Muhammad Zahoor Khan, Jiaqi Wang, Xuan Lu, Dun-Zhu Luosang, Sadia Tabassum, Ahmad Manan Mustafa Chatha () and Wang-Dui Basang ()
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Nan Jiang: State Key Labobatory of Hulless and Yak Germplasm Resources and Genetic Improvement, Lhasa 850000, China
Saima Naz: Department of Zoology, Government Sadiq College Women University, Bahawalpur 36100, Pakistan
Yulin Ma: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Qudrat Ullah: Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Dera Ismail Khan 29220, Pakistan
Muhammad Zahoor Khan: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Jiaqi Wang: College of Life and Health, Dalian University, Dalian Economic-Technological Development Zone, Dalian 116622, China
Xuan Lu: College of Life and Health, Dalian University, Dalian Economic-Technological Development Zone, Dalian 116622, China
Dun-Zhu Luosang: Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Tibet Autonomous Regional Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lhasa 850000, China
Sadia Tabassum: Department of Zoology, Hazara University, Mansehra 21300, Pakistan
Ahmad Manan Mustafa Chatha: Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 36100, Pakistan
Wang-Dui Basang: State Key Labobatory of Hulless and Yak Germplasm Resources and Genetic Improvement, Lhasa 850000, China

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-42

Abstract: This review discusses several research studies that employed comet assay to evaluate the environmental impact of genotoxins in aquatic environments. It focuses on in vivo and in situ studies of aquatic animals. New chemicals are being added each year to the existing burden of toxic substances in the environment. Excessive agricultural and industrial activities adversely affect biodiversity, threatening the survival of species in a particular habitat, as well as posing disease risks to humans. Some of the chemicals, e.g., pesticides and heavy metals, may be genotoxic to the sentinel species and/or to non-target species, causing deleterious effects in somatic or germ cells. Comet assay is a quick, sensitive, and low-cost technique for detecting DNA strand breakage. However, the comet assay has much more to offer than being an assay for testing DNA strand breaks in animal organs. The use of repair enzymes increases the range of DNA lesions that can be detected with the assay. Comparing data from studies that employed different approaches, such as empirical scoring or comet tail lengths, comet assay is one of the challenging techniques to be utilized in environmental studies. The relative amount of DNA in the comet tail indicates DNA break intensity. The assay has been modified to detect various base alterations by including the digestion of nucleoids with a lesion-specific endonuclease. The determination of DNA damage in these indicator species using the comet test would thus offer information on the genotoxic potential of their habitat at an early stage. This would enable intervention techniques to prevent or mitigate adverse health impacts in sentinel animals and humans.

Keywords: SCGE assay; genotoxicity; DNA strand breakage; aquatic animals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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