EVALUATION OF GENOTOXICITY AND EXPRESSION PATTERN OF GENES ASSOCIATED WITH TERPENES IN LEMON (CITRUS LIMON L.) PLANTS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF SALINITY STRESS

Salinity is a significant abiotic stress that adversely affects growth, the content of secondary metabolites, and can even cause cell genotoxicity. Lemon (Citrus limon L.) plants are sensitive to levels of NaCl salinity. To ascertain the response of C. limon plants to NaCl salinity stress, two distinct genetic techniques were used. The genotoxic effects of NaCl on tissue-cultured plants of C. limon was investigated using the comet test. Moreover, the expression of terpene genes was also investigated. Results revealed that NaCl 200 mM caused high severity levels DNA destruction (15.62%) in C. limon plants, whereas the level of 100 mM NaCl scored a tail length of 10.65 mu m, the tail moment was 0.77 units. RtME gene expression peaked at a ratio of 2.29 when the plants were exposed to NaCl 100 mM, while collecting transcripts for the RtLS was 2.21 in plants treated with 100 mM NaCl. Conclusively, comet analysis technique provides a suitable technique to identify DNA damage and terpene genes possessing post-transcriptional control in C. limon salinity stress on plant cells. Prospective investigation is necessary to assess the applicability of comet assay and gene expression methods using additional genes that exhibit sensitivity to various stressors on lemon plus additional plants.