Biomonitoring requires the application of batteries of different biomarkers, as environmental contaminants induce multiple responses in organisms that are not necessarily correlated. Omic technologies were proposed as an alternative to conventional biomarkers since these techniques quantitatively monitor many biological molecules in a high-throughput manner and thus provide a general appraisal of biological responses altered by exposure to contaminants. As the studies using omic technologies increase, it is becoming clear that any single omic approach may not be sufficient to characterize the complexity of ecosystems. This work aims to provide a preliminary working scheme for the use of combined transcriptomic and proteomic methodologies in environmental biomonitoring. There are difficulties in working with nonmodel organisms as bioindicators when combining several omic approaches. As a whole, our results with heterologous microarrays in M. spretus and suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) in P. clarkii indicated that animals sustaining a heavy pollution burden exhibited an enhanced immune response and/or cell apoptosis. The proteomic studies, although preliminary, provide a holistic insight regarding the manner by which pollution shifts protein intensity in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE), completing the transcriptomic approach. In our study, the sediment element concentration was in agreement with the intensity of protein expression changes in C. maenas crabs. In conclusion, omics are useful technologies in addressing environmental issues and the determination of contamination threats.
The sole, Solea senegalensis, is a common flatfish of Atlantic and Mediterranean waters with a high potential for aquaculture. However, its cultivation is hampered by high sensitivity to different stresses and several infectious diseases. Improving protection from pathogens and stressors is thus a key step in reaching a standardized production. Fish were exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a mimetic of bacterial infections, and copper sulphate (CuSO(4)), used in aquaculture to control algae and outbreaks of infectious diseases. We employed a European flounder cDNA microarray to determine the transcriptomic responses of Senegalese sole to these exposures. Microarray analyses showed that many genes were altered in expression following both LPS and copper treatments in comparison to vehicle controls. Gene ontology analysis highlighted copper-specific induction of genes related to cellular adhesion and cell signalling, LPS-specific induction of genes related to the immune response, and a common induction of genes related to unfolded protein binding, intracellular transport/secretion and proteasome. Additionally transcripts for glutathione-S-transferases were down-regulated by LPS, and those for digestive enzymes were down-regulated by both treatments. We selected nine changing genes for absolute quantification of transcript copy numbers by real-time RT-PCR to validate microarray differential expression and to assess inter-individual variability in individual fishes. The quantitative RT-PCR data correlated highly with the microarray results. Overall, data reported provide novel insights into the molecular pathways that could mediate the immune and heavy metal stress responses in Senegalese sole and thus might have biotechnological applications in the culture of this important fish species.
Aquaculture 362 peroxidases, GSHPx, glucose-6P and 6P-gluconate dehydrogenases, glutathione reductase, GSSGrase), neurotransmission-linked esterase activities, such as acetylcholine (AcChE) and carboxyl esterases (CbE), oxidative damages to biomolecules, including DNA (8-oxo-dG), proteins (protein-SSG mixed disulphides), lipids (malondialdehyde, MDA), and the glutathione content and redox status (total glutathione, GSSG/GSH). The UCO group also developed new biochemical indicators that are altered by physiological or environmental changes, such as the levels of individual GST and SOD isoenzymes, the activation of promutagens to genotoxins by exposure to extracts of reference or exposed animals-a global measure of biotransforming capacity-and the metallothionein (MT) levels using a new and extremely sensitive HPLC-based fluorescent assay. The utility of these "classic" biochemical biomarkers was later validated by the UCO group in studies carried out preferentially in natural sites in Spain, Slovakia and Tunisia, and contrasted with experimental exposures to model contaminants carried out under controlled conditions. These studies were reported in the following publications, limited in this review to those made in fish, and listed here by their date of publication: Rodriguez-Ariza et al.
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