Effect of copper and nickel exposure on ribosomal DNA variation in Daphnia pulex mutation accumulation lines.

ABSTRACT: The release of heavy metals from industrial, agricultural, and mining activities poses significant risks to aquatic ecosystems by degrading water quality and generating reactive oxygen species that can damage DNA in aquatic organisms. Daphnia is a widespread keystone species in freshwater ecosystems that is routinely exposed to a range of anthropogenic and natural stressors. With a fully sequenced genome, a well-understood life history and ecology, and an extensive library of responses to toxicity, Daphnia serves as an ideal model organism for studying the impact of environmental stressors on genomic stability. Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) encodes ribosomal RNA (rRNA), which is essential for protein synthesis, and the spacers that separate the rRNA genes contain regulatory elements. However, the e

SUBMITTER: Elguweidi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11917474 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature