Author/Authors :
KIZILET, Halit Atatürk Üniversitesi - Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Turkey , UYSAL, Handan Atatürk Üniversitesi - Fen Fakültesi - Biyoloji Bölümü, Turkey
Abstract :
Mycotoxins are toxic substances that are produced by fungal species. These fungi can be found in a wide variety of plants and soil types. Toxigenic fungi are thought to be ubiquitous in the environment. Zearalenone (ZEN) is mycotoxin, naturally produced by the fungus Fusarium roseum and by some isolates of Fusarium moniliforme. ZEN is heat-stable and is found worldwide in a number of cereal crops, such as maize, barley, oats, wheat, rice, and sorghum and also in bread. In this study, the effects of chronically ZEN on the longevity of adult Drosophila melanogaster were investigated. ZEN was dissolved dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The effects of different concentrations of ZEN (0.4, 0.7, 1.3, 2.0 and 3.0μM), control and control+DMSO groups were separately administered one by one to female and male populations of D. melanogaster. In the control group, the maximum life span was determined to be 76 days for ♀♀, 74 days for ♂♂. The maximum life span for application groups among the adult populations of D. melanogaster subjected to ZEN were observed to be 68-66 days for ♀♀ and for ♂♂ respectively. It was determined that the mean life span of the female and male D. melanogaster populations decreased with increasing concentrations of ZEN in comparison to the control. These values indicate a negative correlation (R=0.432 for ♀♀ and R=0.396 for ♂♂) between the maximum life span of the application groups and changing ZEN concentrations (P 0.05).
