The effect of environmental aneuploidy-inducing agents on the microtubule architecture of mitotic meristematic root cells in Hordeum vulgare.

Microtubules are the prime components involved in chromosomal segregation, their functional accuracy ensuring maintenance of the normal karyotype in the progeny. Chemically-induced disruption of microtubules during mitosis can lead to aneuploidy. In this study, seven environmental chemicals, i.e. cadmium chloride (CD), econazole nitrate (EZ), benomyl (BM), thiabendazole (TB), griseofulvin (GF), thimerosal (TM) and hydroquinone (HQ), were tested for their ability to induce microtubule disruption in mitotic meristematic root cells of the higher plant Hordeum vulgare, with the use of anti-tubulin indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. All chemicals tested in this study, with the exception of TB and HQ, produced modifications in the morphology of microtubule organization and reduced the fidelity of the spindle apparatus in Hordeum vulgare.