ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Heavy Metals Pollution and its Genotoxicity Assessment through the Green Marine Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyceae) Algae in the Lattakia-Coastline, Syria

The current study was conducted to investigate pollution level in Lattakia-coastline, Syria using Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyta) algae as bioindicator for sea water pollution based on Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd concentration using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) technique. On the other hand, to investigate pollution genotoxicity on U. lactuca algae based on Genomic Template Stability (GTS%) estimations yielded by Touch-down Directed Amplification of Minisatellite DNA (Td-DAMD) marker. AAS analysis indicated that the Lattakia coastline is not polluted by the mentioned pollutants (Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd) at least regarding these metals. As for GTS%, it is not correlated with observed pollutants concentration in the mentioned sites. Further studies focused especially on determination of other elements than those studied herein and investigation their influence on DNA changes profile are needed.