Detection of Environmental Contaminants by RAPD Method

Abstract

RAPD technique is already extensively used for species classification, genetic mapping and phylogenetic study. In addition, their use in surveying genomic DNA for evidence of various types of DNA damage and mutation shows that RAPDPCR may potentially constitute a biomarker assay for the detection of damage and mutational events in cell of bacteria, plants and animals. Being an effective investigation tool it is applied in genotoxicity, carcinogenesis studies and environmental toxicology research. Detection of genotoxic effects using RAPD involves the comparison of profiles generated from control and treated DNA. RAPD determines the genomic template stability which is related to level of DNA damage, so it helps in identification of various environmental pollutants with cytotoxic potential.