Combined effects of cadmium exposure and temperature on the annual killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri)

Abstract

Freshwater organisms are increasingly exposed to combinations of stressors. However, because it is time-consuming and costly, research on the interaction of stressors, such as compound toxicity and global warming on vertebrates, is scarce. Studies on multigenerational effects of these combined stressors are almost nonexistent. In the present study, we tested the combined effects of 4 °C warming and cadmium (Cd) exposure on life-history traits, biomarkers, bioaccumulation, and multigenerational tolerance in the turquoise killifish, Nothobranchius furzeri. The extremely short life cycle of this vertebrate model allows for assessment of sublethal and multigenerational effects within 4 mo. The applied Cd concentrations had only limited effects on the measured endpoints, which suggests that N. furzeri is more resistant to Cd than fathead minnow and rainbow trout. In contrast, the temperature increase of 4 °C was stressful: it delayed female maturation and lowered adult mass and fecundity. Finally, indications of synergistic effects were found on peak fecundity and embryonic survival. Overall, these results indicate the importance of studying chronic and multigenerational effects of combined stressors. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:2361-2371. © 2018 SETAC.

Conspecific density and environmental complexity impact behaviour of turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri)

“…To allow for individual monitoring and to adhere to the highest level of standardization, fish are often housed individually in laboratory conditions. This is, for instance, the case for a range of standard ecotoxicological tests (Philippe et al, 2018a(Philippe et al, , 2018b(Philippe et al, , 2018c. Ecotoxicological test procedures and husbandry protocols for N. furzeri are currently being developed or updated to maximize standardization, ease of cultivation and manipulation while also taking into account animal welfare.…”

“…In addition, the Turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) was established as a time-and cost-efficient model organism for whole-life and multigenerational studies in the last decade (Harel et al, 2015;Philippe et al, 2017Philippe et al, , 2018a. This annual fish originates from temporary freshwater pools in south-eastern Africa that are characterized by a seasonal desiccation and inundation, leading to an alternation between a completely dry phase and a wet phase (Cellerino et al, 2015;Polačik et al, 2016).…”

“…Because of the inconveniently long lifespan and generation time of classic fish models, full life-cycle and multigenerational assays (e.g., OECD guidelines for the testing of chemicals, OECD, 234, 240) are highly resource and time expensive and are therefore hardly performed for regulatory or research purposes (Ankley & Villeneuve, 2006). After an initial screening of congeneric species such as N. rachovii (van der Hoeven et al, 1982) and N. guentheri (Shedd et al, 1999), N. furzeri has been introduced as a more favourable model organism to facilitate such research agendas (Philippe et al, 2018a(Philippe et al, , 2018b(Philippe et al, , 2018cThoré et al, 2018a). Elaborate protocols for acute and chronic ecotoxicity testing with N. furzeri have been developed (Philippe et al, 2018b).…”

Nothobranchius furzeri, an 'instant' fish from an ephemeral habitat

“…Growth slows thereafter as resources are diverted to reproduction, but a body size of 75 mm can be reached in males after 10–15 weeks (Blažek et al, 2013; Vrtílek et al, 2018a). Importantly, their growth rate is strongly dependent on population density and food availability; fish in dense populations are typically small and sexually immature at an age of 3–5 weeks, both in the wild and in the laboratory (Graf et al, 2010; Grégoir et al, 2018; Philippe et al, 2018; Vrtílek et al, 2018a). Individual fish vary in growth rates (Blažek et al, 2013), perhaps reflecting variation in personality traits (Thoré et al, 2018).…”

“…Several inbred lines are also available (Hu and Brunet, 2018) and genome-editing techniques are widely adopted to rapidly produce stable transgenic lines too (Harel et al, 2016). With this background, N. furzeri has reached outside the world of ageing research and has become valuable for studies in such disparate branches of investigation as evolutionary genomics (Reichwald et al, 2015), regenerative medicine (Wendler et al, 2015), developmental biology (Hu and Brunet, 2018) and ecotoxicology (Philippe et al, 2018). Here, we explore how our understanding of the natural history of the species makes a key contribution to the development of this species as a laboratory model.…”