Air quality biomonitoring: Assessment of air pollution genotoxicity in the Province of Novara (North Italy) by using Trifolium repens L. and molecular markers

Mixed air pollutants are considered a major cause of DNA damage in living species. In this study Trifolium repens L. cv Regal was used as a bioindicator to assess the genotoxicity of air stressors in the Italian province of Novara. Two on-site biomonitoring experiments were performed during the spring and autumn of 2004. Test plants were exposed at 19 monitoring sites distributed homogeneously throughout the province, and each experiment lasted for a period of 6 weeks. Genotoxicity was evaluated with Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) molecular markers. The results show the predominantly rural central–west region of the Novara Province to have the worst air quality with regard to genotoxicity. Analyses of geomorphology, land use and climatic factors suggest that the compromised air quality in the region could be attributed to wind strength and direction, transporting pollution from vehicular traffic on the A4 highway and from the urban/industrialized centres of Novara and Vercelli. Plant growth, changes in plant photochemical efficiency and the presence of ozone related leaf injuries were also measured to better interpret the results of genotoxicity. Statistical analyses show that although climatic factors such as light intensity and temperature influence plant growth, they do not contribute to atmospheric stressor-induced DNA damage. Further analyses indicated that, as expected, a mixture of genotoxic and non-genotoxic pollutants coexist in the Novara Province troposphere, and that the elevated ozone concentrations experienced during the study may have contributed to the DNA damage in the tested plants by enhancing genotoxicity via interaction with other air stressors.