Genotoxicity of 1-1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids on pakchoi (Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis) using ISSR markers

Ionic liquids (ILs) are one class of important industrial chemicals that may replace conventional organic solvents. Due to the solubility, the toxicity study of ILs focused on aquatic mediums. However, there is seldom research for the the toxicity on terrestrial organism. In this paper, we studied the toxicity of three imidazolium ionic liquids 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride ([Bmim][CL]), 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Bmim][BF₄]), and 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium trifluoroacetate ([Bmim][CF₃COOH]) on seed germination and seedling growth of pakchoi. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker technique was applied to detect DNA damage induced by imidazolium ILs. The results showed that all of three ILs could inhibit seed germination and seedling growth of pakchoi significantly at higher concentration (≥16 mM/L). At same concentration (1 mM/L and 4 mM/L), the genotoxicity of three ILs was following the trends: [Bmim][BF₄]> [Bmim] [CF₃COOH]> [Bmim] [CL]. It was concluded that ISSR assay offered a useful way to detect toxicity of ILs contamination on plant at low concentration even without transformation of physiological feature, such as germination and growth parameters and so on.