In this study, essential oils extracted from 2 species of oregano, Origanum onites L. and Origanum minutiflorum & , were assayed for genotoxicity using the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2013) 37: 129-138 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Investigation of the genotoxic and antigenotoxic properties of essential oils obtained from two Origanum species by Drosophila wing SMART assay 1, 1 2,3 4 1 Eşref DEMİR *, Bülent KAYA , Ricard MARCOS , Serap KOCAOĞLU CENKCİ , Hüseyin ÇETİN 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Akdeniz University, 07058 Kampüs, Antalya, Turkey 2 Mutagenesis Group, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain 3 Biomedical Research Center Network for Epidemiology and Public Health, Barcelona, Spain 4 Department of Nutrition and Diet, Antalya School of Health, Akdeniz University, 07058 Kampüs, Antalya, Turkey Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: In this study, essential oils extracted from 2 species of oregano, Origanum onites L. and Origanum minutiflorum & , were assayed for genotoxicity using the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster. Results indicated that there is no significant genotoxic effect of the 2 oils tested. In addition, the antigenotoxic activities of these oils against potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) and cobalt chloride (CoCl2) were tested. Results indicated that essential oil cotreatments were able to abolish the genotoxic effects induced by the 2 metal compounds. It is suggested that the observed effects can be linked to the antioxidant properties of the selected essential oils. Moreover, these in vivo results will contribute to the antigenotoxicity database of the 2 Origanum species used in this study. Key words: Drosophila, antigenotoxicity, Origanum onites, Origanum minutiflorum, cobalt chloride, potassium dichromate 1. Introduction Origanum is a genus of about 20 species of aromatic herbs in the family
