The protective role of zinc and calcium in Vicia faba seedlings subjected to cadmium stress

PubMed ID: 20921057The aim of the present study was to evidence the possible antagonistic effect of Zinc (Zn2+) and Calcium (Ca2+) against cadmium (Cd2+)-induced DNA damage by using random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and metabolic activities in Vicia faba. The results showed that all doses of Cd2+(10-3M, 10-5M) caused an increase in polymorphism value and a decrease in genomic template stability (GTS %). In addition, when 10-4-10-6M Ca2+, 10-6M Zn2+were added together with 10-3M, 10-4M, 10-5M of Cd2+, polymorphism value decreased besides GTS, total protein and chlorophyll content increased. Results suggested that Zn2+and Ca2+have an antagonistic effect against Cd2+. The order of the antagonisms of Ca2+, Zn2+against Cd2+toxicity was Ca2+> Zn2+. Especially, the degree of antagonistic effect of Zn2+against Cd2+is probably related to its concentration ratio. © 2011, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved

Genetic variation within and among three populations of Vicia canescens L. (Fabaceae) as revealed by RAPD and FAMEs analysis

The present study employed FAMEs and RAPD to investigate the patterns of biochemical and genetic variation among and within three different populations of Vicia canescens L. Fourteen primers were used for the RAPD and polymorphic bands were obtained with eight primers. Biochemical and genetic distances were calculated and dendrograms were obtained for all studied populations using both RAPD and FAMEs methods. The results of our RAPD analysis suggest that the highest percentage of polymorphic loci (63.7%) was recorded in pine population, which was followed by the campus (60.8%) and colonizing (43.1%) populations. A UPGMA analysis was carried out using Jaccard's index of similarity for 45 individuals in the three populations, which produced a dendrogram. The index revealed that the campus and colonizing populations are the closest ones, while pine and campus populations are the farthest. © 2010 University of Bucharest