Biomarker Approach in Marine Monitoring and Assessment: New Insights and Perspectives

Abstract

Abstract:The measurement of cellular and sub cellular responses to chemical contaminants (referred to as biomarkers) in living organisms represents a recent tool in environmental monitoring. It answers to the need to detect exposure and to assess effects of pollutants on biota. Biomarkers have recently become an integral component of environmental monitoring programmes of marine environments in several countries as a supplement to the commonly used contaminant monitoring. The review reports and analyzes new insights and perspectives in the biomarker approach, including its recent application to the detection of the impact of biological pollution in marine environment.

Pollution Biomarkers in Environmental and Human Biomonitoring

“…Therefore, depending on the specific biological response used as biomarker and on the point on the continuum from exposure to pathology (Fig. 2), where the measured biomarker come from, biomarkers may be classified into biomarkers of exposure, biomarkers of effect, and susceptibility [7].…”

“…The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD, Directive 2000/60/EC) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), that provide the guidance for monitoring programs required to assess the achievement of good chemical and ecological status of water bodies, pointed out the importance of biological monitoring for the determination of water quality [7]. In this framework specific suites of molecular and cellular biomarkers are widely used to assess impacts of environmental chemical stress on bioindicator organisms in complementation with chemical analysis on environmental matrices, which lack of information on bioavailability and toxic potential of pollutants [16,17].…”

The Potential Use of Invasive Ascidians for Biomonitoring Heavy Metal Pollution

“…Biological monitoring of marine pollutants presents an advantage compared to chemical analysis of environmental matrices such as seawater samples, as pollutant concentrations in water are often extremely low and their determination presents significant methodological and analytical challenges (Richir and Gobert, 2014;Bellante et al, 2016). Furthermore, live organisms used as indicators can accumulate different substances over a long period, hence providing a time-integrated evaluation of the past environmental status and its biological effects (Schettino et al, 2012). Consequently, the use of bio-indicators has greatly developed in the last decade as a promising alternative approach for the monitoring of environmental pollution (Holt and Miller, 2010;Abdul Jaffar Ali et al, 2015).…”

18S rRNA, a potential reference gene in the qRT-PCR measurement of bisphenol A contamination in green mussels (Perna viridis) collected from the Gulf of Thailand

“…BPA is a xenoestrogen with properties able to mimic natural estrogen; its impacts on human health have been studied extensively but opinion is still very much divided as to the levels that exert adverse effects (Chouhan et al, 2014). Thus, in evaluating the effects of BPA contamination on various aquatic organisms, biomarkers have proved to be very useful (Schettino et al, 2012). The molecular processes occurring within an organism following pollutant exposure can provide a highly sensitive, early warning system of toxicological effects within individual populations.…”