Sediments in estuaries are of important environmental concern because they may act as pollution sinks and sources to the overlying water body. These sediments can be accumulated by benthic organisms. This study assessed the mutagenic potential of sediment extracts from the Yangtze River estuary by using the Ames fluctuation assay with the Salmonella typhimurium his (−) strain TA98 (frameshift mutagen indicator) and TA100 (baseshift mutagen indicator). Most of the sediment samples were mutagenic to the strain TA98, regardless of the presence or absence of exogenous metabolic activation (S9 induction by β-naphthoflavone/phenobarbital). However, none of the samples were mutagenic to the strain TA100. Thus, the mutagenicity pattern was mainly frameshift mutation, and the responsible toxicants were both direct (without S9 mix) and indirect (with S9 mix) mutagens. The mutagenicity of the sediment extracts increased when S9 was added. Chemical analysis showed a poor correlation between the content of priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the detected mutagenicity in each sample. The concept of effect-directed analysis was used to analyze possible compounds responsible for the detected mutagenic effects. With regard to the mutagenicity of sediment fractions, non-polar compounds as well as weakly and moderately polar compounds played a main role. Further investigations should be conducted to identify the responsible components.
Key Laboratory of Yangtze Water environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China;Key Laboratory of Yangtze Water environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China;Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), ABBt - Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany;Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), ABBt - Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany;Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), ABBt - Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany;Key Laboratory of Yangtze Water environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China;Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), ABBt - Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany;College of Resources and Environmental Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China;School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China;Key Laboratory of Yangtze Water environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Recommended Citation:
Li Liu,Ling Chen,Tilman Floehr,et al. Assessment of the Mutagenicity of Sediments from Yangtze River Estuary Using Salmonella Typhimurium/Microsome Assay[J]. PLOS ONE,2015-01-01,10(11)