Abstract
Salinity is an important abiotic stress that greatly influences growth, secondary product content and genotoxicity in plants. Ocimum basilicum L. (family Lamiaceae) produces a volatile oil, which is used in many pharmaceutical industries, but the oil biosynthesis is affected by salt stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of salinity stress on genome stability and genotoxicity of three basil cultivars (Gigante, Gralissimum and Verde) using comet assays to study the genotoxic impact of salinity stress (0, 50, 100 and 200 mM NaCl) and a semi-quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction to study terpene gene expression. Both analyses revealed considerable genetic effects of salinity stress on the O. basilicum genome, detected by a regular increase in DNA damage and by diversity in the transcript levels of terpene biosynthesis and inhibitor genes. Our findings confirmed that basil plants were affected by NaCl salinity stress and that exposure to 200 mM NaCl resulted in significant DNA damage in the form of tail moment, DNA tail percentage and tail length. The accumulation of linalool synthase enzyme (LS) and hexokinase synthase (HK) gene transcripts was greatly increased in response to salinity, whereas FPPS, GPPS and DXR gene transcription was suppressed in all three basil cultivars. © 2021 Friends Science Publishers
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
