Adduct distributions in piscine DNA: South-Eastern black sea

The south-eastern Black Sea is relatively unpolluted and contains polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) only of the order of 1 μg 1−1. Pelagic and benthic fish were monitored during three successive winters from 1993 to 1996 for PAHs and for DNA adducts. The fish caught (Mugil sp., Mullus barbatus, Alosa fallax, Merlangius merlangus, Sprattus sprattus and Platichthys flesus) varied annually in length, weight and species composition. Although their livers were oily and contained significant concentrations of PAHs (11–56 μg g−1), 32P-postlabelling relatively low levels of hydrophobic DNA .adducts (3–20 per 108 nucleotides) in either fish livers or blood. A significant fraction of the DNA adducts in the blood samples, unlike those in the livers, were dephosphorylated by nuclease-P1.