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GENOTOXICITY TESTING OF SOME SPICES IN DIPLOID YEAST

SAJJAD R. CHUGHTAI*, MASOOMA A. AHMAD, KHALID NASEEM* AND AKBAR S. MOHMAND*

Abstract: A study was conducted to assess the mutagenic and recombinogenic potential of 10 commonly consumed spices and condiments viz., bay leaves, black pepper, cardamom small, caraway, red chilies, cinnamon, coriander, fennel, garlic and curry powder in the diploid yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Aqueous extracts of these spices were tested for the induction of mitotic gene conversion and reverse mutation in the diploid strain D7 of the yeast. All except cinnamon failed to induce detectable recombination and mutations in the growing cells of the yeast without exogenous metabolic activation. Treatments with an aqueous extracts of cinnamon significantly increased the rate of gene conversion and reverse mutation. Cinnamon caused cells death and inhibition of cell division. Ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) used as a positive control exhibited recombinogenic and mutagenic effects.

Department of Botany, University of Baluchistan, Quetta, Pakistan.

National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan.