Induction of glutathione S-transferases activities in Drosophila melanogaster exposed to phenol.

Studying the toxic effects of long-term exposing fruit flies to phenol is the object of this study. The induction of the glutathione S-transferases enzymatic activities, the change in the amount of mRNA related to phenol exposure, the change in survival rate of adult fruit flies, and the chemical interaction between phenol and benzene were the problems to be investigated. Glutathione S-transferases were separated by affinity chromatography and the mRNAs levels were quantified by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Long-term feeding phenol to wild type fruit flies had caused some toxic effects included increasing the resistance to phenol toxicity, lowering the benzene toxicity, and induction of glutathione S-transferases enzymatic activities. But no significant change in the amount of glutathione S-transferases GstD1 and GstD5 mRNAs had occurred. From these results, we concluded that fruit flies could develop resistance to phenol by decreasing its toxicity; phenol was a inducer of glutathione S-transferases; phenol could increase the glutathione S-transferases enzymatic activities by increasing the amount of proteins; phenol exposure could decrease the benzene toxicity; no new glutathione S-transferase isozyme subunit was induced; and the level of GstD1 and GstD5 mRNAs did not significantly increase in phenol-treated strain. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.