Mitotraumatism Triggered by Alkaloids (Caffeine and Nicotine) in root meristems of Lathyrus sativus L. (Grass pea)

The alkaloids such as caffeine and nicotine, which are constantly consumed by humans, were proved to be harmful for the plants also. These alkaloids alter the biological activity of living organism and lead to disturbances in the environmental sustainability within the ecosystem. So, the present literature explicates the comparative toxicity of both caffeine and nicotine in root meristems of Lathyrus sativus L. (grass pea). Moreover, genotoxicity of caffeine and nicotine was compared at different doses viz. 50, 100, 150 and 200 ppm each. This brought about various instability within chromosomes such as stickiness, scattering, precocious, c-metaphase, unorientation, etc. among which stickiness was predominant. Simultaneously, AMI (%) and TAB (%) were found to be inversely correlated. It was concluded that nicotine was more cyto-genotoxic to the root meristems as compared to caffeine. © 2016 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved