Methods for detecting carcinogens and mutagens with the salmonella/mammalian-microsome mutagenicity test

Organic contaminants (OCs) are ubiquitous in the environment, posing severe threats to human health and ecological balance. In particular, OCs and their metabolites could interact with genetic materials to induce genotoxicity, which has attracted considerable attention. In this review, bibliometric analysis was executed to analyze the publications on the genotoxicity of OCs in soil from 1992 to 2021. The result indicated that significant contributions were made by China and the United States in this field and the research hotspots were biological risks, damage mechanisms, and testing methods. Based on this, in this review, we summarized the manifestations and influencing factors of genotoxicity of OCs to soil organisms, the main damage mechanisms, and the most commonly utilized testing methods. OCs can induce genotoxicity and the hierarchical response of soil organisms, which could be influenced by the physicochemical properties of OCs and the properties of soil. Specific mechanisms of genotoxicity can be classified into DNA damage, epigenetic toxicity, and chromosomal aberrations. OCs with different molecular weights lead to genetic material damage by inducing the generation of ROS or forming adducts with DNA, respectively. The micronucleus test and the comet test are the most commonly used testing methods. Moreover, this review also pointed out that future studies should focus on the relationships between bioaccessibilities and genotoxicities, transcriptional regulatory factors, and potential metabolites of OCs to elaborate on the biological risks and mechanisms of genotoxicity from an overall perspective.