Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are widely distributed in the environment, but their occurrence and potential toxicity are only now being evaluated. CECs are increasingly being detected in the waters and many act as endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs), causing a variety of effects on health. The worldwide distributed perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and bisphenol A (BPA) are CECs falling in the EDCs category.Skin samples from the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), a top predator that spends its entire life in the water and therefore subject to accumulation and magnification of contaminants, were collected to analyze the impact that environmentally relevant concentrations of CECs may have on global gene expression. We combined transcriptomic analysis and ex vivoassays using small skin slices cultured and treated for 24 h with PFOA or BPA or vehicle.RNA from dolphin biopsies was labeled and hybridized to a species-specific oligomicroarray. The skin transcriptome displayed changes related to contaminant exposure, potentially predictive about long-term effects on health, being the genes affected involved in immune modulation, response to stress, lipid homeostasis, and development. Within the genes differentially expressed in the transcriptome after CECs treatment, 4 were tested as potential gene markers of anthropogenic contaminants exposure on skin samples from wild cetaceans. RNA from 12 individuals, including the species Stenella coeruleoalba, T.truncatus, and Grampus griseuswere sampled in 3 areas (Adriatic, Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas). Three out of the 4 genes tested showed higher expression in the samples collected from the Adriatic sea.The transcriptomic signature of a dolphin skin could be relevant as classifier for a specific contaminant whilst giving information of the specific geographic location where the marine mammal spent its life, due to the different impact on gene expression exerted by different contamination levels.

Impact of marine contaminants of emerging concern on the cetacean transcriptome

Mancia A
;
Lunardi D;Abelli L.
2018

Abstract

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are widely distributed in the environment, but their occurrence and potential toxicity are only now being evaluated. CECs are increasingly being detected in the waters and many act as endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs), causing a variety of effects on health. The worldwide distributed perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and bisphenol A (BPA) are CECs falling in the EDCs category.Skin samples from the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), a top predator that spends its entire life in the water and therefore subject to accumulation and magnification of contaminants, were collected to analyze the impact that environmentally relevant concentrations of CECs may have on global gene expression. We combined transcriptomic analysis and ex vivoassays using small skin slices cultured and treated for 24 h with PFOA or BPA or vehicle.RNA from dolphin biopsies was labeled and hybridized to a species-specific oligomicroarray. The skin transcriptome displayed changes related to contaminant exposure, potentially predictive about long-term effects on health, being the genes affected involved in immune modulation, response to stress, lipid homeostasis, and development. Within the genes differentially expressed in the transcriptome after CECs treatment, 4 were tested as potential gene markers of anthropogenic contaminants exposure on skin samples from wild cetaceans. RNA from 12 individuals, including the species Stenella coeruleoalba, T.truncatus, and Grampus griseuswere sampled in 3 areas (Adriatic, Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas). Three out of the 4 genes tested showed higher expression in the samples collected from the Adriatic sea.The transcriptomic signature of a dolphin skin could be relevant as classifier for a specific contaminant whilst giving information of the specific geographic location where the marine mammal spent its life, due to the different impact on gene expression exerted by different contamination levels.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11392/2398947
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