Humic acids protective activity against manganese induced LTR (long terminal repeat) retrotransposon polymorphism and genomic instability effects in Zea mays

Long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon polymorphism and genomic instability are considered to be one of the most important rearranging mechanisms under environmental stress. Triggering of this knowledge, we aimed to elucidate protective effect of humic acid (HA) on genomic instability and LTR retrotransposon polymorphism in Zea mays seeds subjected to manganese stress. REMAP (Retrotransposon-microsatellite Amplified Polymorphism) and IRAP (Inter-Retrotransposon Amplified Polymorphism) were used to define the GTS (Genomic Template Stability) levels and retrotransposon polymorphism. The results showed that all concentration used Mn led to an increase in retrotransposon polymorphism and DNA damage a reduction GTS rate showing the DNA damage. However, the treatments of humic acid (10%) together with Mn resulted as decreasing DNA damage and retrotransposon polymorphism and also increasing GTS. It can be suggested that HA applications removes the negative effects of Mn on retrotransposon polymorphism and GTS, when considering the research results.