Flubendiamide (FLB) is an insecticide that is commonly employed to control pests on a variety of vegetables and fruits, with low toxicity for non-target organisms. However, due to its widespread use, the environmental risks and food safety have become major concerns. In this study, the toxicity potential of FLB was studied in the model organisms, Allium cepa and Drosophila melanogaster. The cyto-genotoxic effects of FLB on the root growth, mitotic index (MI), chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage in A. cepa root meristematic cells were investigated using the root growth inhibition Allium test and Comet assays. FLB caused CAs in the form of disturbed ana-telophase, chromosome laggards, stickiness, anaphase-bridge and polyploidy depending on the concentration and the exposure time. The toxicity and genotoxicity of FLB at various doses (0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 1 mM) on D. melanogaster were investigated from the point of view of larval weight and movement, pupal formation success, pupal position, emergence success and DNA damage, respectively. FLB exposure led to a significant reduction of the locomotor activity at the highest concentration. While DNA damage increased significantly in the FLB-treated onions depending on the concentration and time, DNA damage in the FLB-treated D. melanogaster significantly increased only at the highest dose compared to that which occurred in the control group. Moreover, to provide a mechanistic insight into the genotoxic and locomotion-disrupting effects of FLB, molecular docking simulations of this pesticide were performed against the DNA and diamondback moth (DBM) ryanodine receptor (RyR) Repeat34 domain. The docking studies revealed that FLB binds strongly to a DNA region that is rich in cytosine-guanine-adenine bases (C-G-A) in the minor groove, and it displayed a remarkable binding affinity against the DBM RyR Repeat34 domain.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential cytotoxic effects of Benodanil fungicide by employing both mitotic index (MI) and mitotic phases on the root meristem cells of Allium cepa and genotoxic effects by using in vitro micronucleus assay (MN) in human peripheral blood lymphocyte. In the Allium root growth inhibition test, the EC₅₀ value was first determined as 25 ppm. Then, 2 × EC₅₀ value (50 ppm), EC₅₀ value (25 ppm), and 1/2 × EC₅₀ value (12.5 ppm) were tested with different treatment periods (24, 48, and 72 h). Both negative and positive controls were also used in parallel experiments. We obtained that mitotic index and prophase index decreased when compared with the control in all concentrations. In the micronucleus assay, lymphocytes were treated with various concentrations (250, 500, 750, and 1000 µg/ml) of Benodanil for 24 and 48 h. The results showed that Benodanil did not induce MN frequency in all concentrations of both treatment periods. Additionally, it was determined that this pesticide decreased nuclear division index (NDI) significantly. It was concluded that Benodanil has a cytotoxic effects depending on decreasing of MI and NDI.

Chloroform and Bromoform are two abundant trihalomethanes found in Algerian drinking water. The investigation of the mutagenic hazard of these disinfection by-products was studied by Ames test as prokaryotic bioassay to show their mutagenic effects. For this, Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 strains were employed. Both chloroform and bromoform showed a direct mutagenic effect since the number of revertant colonies gradually increase in dose-dependent manner with all concentrations tested with the two bacterial strains and these were both in the absence and presence of S9 metabolic activation. The genotoxic hazard was also studied by random amplified polymorphic DNA test on the root cells of Allium cepa as eukaryotic bioassay. DNA extracted from the roots of the onion were incubated at different concentrations of chloroform and bromoform and then amplified by polymerase chain reaction. This was based on demonstrating a major effect of disappearance of bands compared to roots incubated in the negative control (distilled water). The results showed that these two compounds affected genomic DNA by breaks although by mutations.

In this study, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were obtained by green synthesis method using extracts prepared from Mentha pulegium L. species in order to investigate the cytotoxic, genotoxic and antimicrobial activities of nanoparticles. For the characterization of these nanoparticles, UV–Vis spectrophotometer, FT-IR, XRD and SEM analysis methods were used. For cell culture studies were carried out to determine the cytotoxic and genotoxic activities of ZnO NPs obtained by green synthesis with A549 cell line, which is a lung cancer cell. In the genotoxicity results determined by the Comet method, the highest DNA damage was seen at a concentration of 3.75 mg/mL. The genotoxic activity of different concentrations (0.1, 1, 5, 10 mM) of ZNO NPs were evaluated with SMART assay on Drosophila melanogaster. According to results ZNO NPs applications were found to be similar to the control group in all doses. On the other hand, in order to determine the antimicrobial activity, Escherichia coli (ATTC 25922), Staphylococcus aureus (ATTC 29213), Candida albicans (ATTC 90028), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATTC 700603) and Salmonella enteritidis (ATTC 13076) microorganisms were cultured and disc diffusion test method was applied. In the disc diffusion test, dose application was made in the range of 15.6–500 mg/mL concentrations and it was observed that inhibition zone was formed at all concentrations.