Mutagenic effect of inorganic mercury in drosophila melanogaster

ABSTRACT

The mutagenic effects of mercury chloride and its effects on some fitness components have been investigated on a population of Drosophila melanogaster. The flies were reared on media containing mercury chloride with a concentration below the LC[50] level for six successive generations. The changes in percentage emergence, body size and the frequencies of the sex linked recessive lethals were detected. For the first three generations of the treatment there was a significant decline in the viability of the flies below the control level after which percentage emergence tended to increase towards that level. On the contrary, body size tended to decline with continuous application by the chemical. After six generations of the treatment, body size has been reduced by about 17%. Exposing larvae to mercury chloride led to a considerable increase in the frequency of the sex linked recessive lethals when compared with that in the untreated population