Environmental toxins, such as heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and pesticides, can induce oxidative stress and generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS can cause nucleotide modifications, such as oxidation of guanine to 8-oxo-guanine, which can lead to mismatched base pairing and mutations during DNA replication. The accumulation of such genotoxic effects can result in cell death or transformation into cancerous cells.
