Tobacco plants detect a decrease of environmental genotoxicity in Toulouse (France).

Tobacco plants, heterozygous for two independent loci involved in the chlorophyll parenchyma differentiation, allow the genotoxic effects of the atmosphere of the industrial estate South of Toulouse to be estimated. Somatic spots of green cellular colonies on yellow-green background, were counted to calculate the cellular rates of reversion. Two experiments were carried out in 1981, and in 1997. A general decrease of genotoxic effects was observed. These observations were interpreted as being due to a general decrease of the air pollution evaluated by the development of the concentrations of three toxic gases before and after the implementation of cleanup devices. The results obtained demonstrate the efficiency of this bio-indicator, which is easy to use and capable of integrating, in situ, genotoxic variations throughout the duration of plants' growth.

Bioindicator reliability: the example of Bel W3 tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.).

The use of the Bel W3 tobacco variety revealed the existence of an intrapopulation variation of sensitivity to the ozone effect leading to the isolation of two categories of plants: sensitive and resistant. The use of sensitive plants revealed the existence of a biological ozone efficiency threshold at a level close to 34.5 ppb. Under the threshold, the biological effects observed were weak or very weak. They can be attributed to the occurrence of secondary phenomena (chemical, physiological, pathological, etc.), inducing or inhibiting necrosis, which become perceptible here.