title: Genetic damage induced by a food coloring dye (sunset yellow) on meristematic cells of Brassica campestris L.
abstract: We have performed the present piece of work to evaluate the effect of synthetic food coloring azo dye (sunset yellow) on actively dividing root tip cells of Brassica campestris L. Three doses of azo dye were administered for the treatment of actively dividing root tip cells, namely, 1%, 3%, and 5%, for 6-hour duration along with control. Mitotic analysis clearly revealed the azo dye induced endpoint deviation like reduction in the frequency of normal divisions in a dose dependent manner. Mitotic divisions in the control sets were found to be perfectly normal while dose based reduction in MI was registered in the treated sets. Azo dye has induced several chromosomal aberrations (genotoxic effect) at various stages of cell cycle such as stickiness of chromosomes, micronuclei formation, precocious migration of chromosome, unorientation, forward movement of chromosome, laggards, and chromatin bridge. Among all, stickiness of chromosomes was present in the highest frequency followed by partial genome elimination as micronuclei. The present study suggests that extensive use of synthetic dye should be forbidden due to genotoxic and cytotoxic impacts on living cells. Thus, there is an urgent need to assess potential hazardous effects of these dyes on other test systems like human and nonhuman biota for better scrutiny.
authors.affiliation: Plant Genetics Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211002, India.
authors.forename: Kshama
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dwivedi
authors.affiliation: Plant Genetics Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211002, India.
authors.forename: Girjesh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*; D001937:Brassica / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations / Q000187:drug effects; D005505:Food Coloring Agents / Q000633:toxicity*; D018519:Meristem / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008940:Mitotic Index
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D005505:Food Coloring Agents; C005842:6-hydroxy-5-((p- sulfophenyl)azo)-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid disodium salt