The study of the influence of exogenous factors on Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA spheroplast

The possibility of fixing genotoxic changes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast under the influence of physicochemical factors was evaluated using the DNA-comet assay. Peripheral blood leukocytes of mice subjected to similar effects were used as an object of comparison. The data obtained showed that under the action of both the alkylating agent and X-ray irradiation, the changes were more pronounced in experiments with leukocytes of the blood of mice. At a methyl-methane sulphonate concentration of 10 mM, the comet tail length in mouse peripheral blood leukocytes was about 40 μm, while the yeast spheroplasts tail length of a comet was 0.16 μm. The DNA content in the tail of the comet did not exceed 5 % for yeast after treatment with an alkylating agent at a concentration of 40 mM, which is 10 times less than in peripheral blood leukocytes of mice under similar conditions. Under the action of X-ray radiation, the length of the comet's tail and the DNA content in it for spheroplasts of yeast also differed significantly from the leukocytes of the peripheral blood of the mouse. Thus, the comet test allows to register a significant increase in the level of DNA damage in yeast spheroplasts under the action of physicochemical factors in relatively high doses. (paper)