Environmental biomonitoring by snails

Dhiman, Varun; Pant, Deepak

doi:10.1080/1354750x.2020.1871514

Cited by 25 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 119 publications

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“…Leakage of heavy metals from cement is assumed to be more sustainable than contamination by radioactive substances. Although toxicities of heavy metals such as copper and cadmium in gastropod mollusks have repeatedly been reported (7), these substances have negative effects on reproduction, including on gonadal maturation. Considering the fact that organotin compounds induced imposex on this marine snail through the activation of a nuclear receptor, retinoid X receptor, another possibility is that yet-identified chemicals derived from the nuclear disaster mediate the induction of CSM.…”

Section: Relevance Of the Nuclear Disaster To The Development Of Csm ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since then, accumulating evidence has prompted worldwide cessation of the use of organotin compounds in anti-fouling paint to try to remediate ecosystems in the intertidal zone. Accordingly, caenogastropods have been focused on as important biomarkers for monitoring the recovery of ecosystems in the intertidal zone from pollution by organotin compounds (7).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Concomitant downregulation of neuropeptide genes in a marine snail with consecutive sexual maturation after a nuclear disaster in Japan

Morishita

Horiguchi²,

Akuta³

et al. 2023

Front. Endocrinol.

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Consecutive sexual maturation (CSM), an abnormal reproductive phenomenon of a marine snail, Reishia clavigera, has occurred since 2017 in the vicinity of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the nuclear disaster there. We hypothesized that alterations in animal physiology mediated through genetic/epigenetic changes could sensitively reflect environmental pollution. Understanding the mechanism of this rapid biological response should enable us to quantitatively evaluate long-lasting effects of the nuclear disaster. To determine the molecular basis for CSM, we conducted transcriptome profiling in the ganglia of normal and CSM snails. We assembled the short-read cDNA sequences obtained by Illumina sequencing, and succeeded in characterizing more than 60,000 gene models that include 88 kinds of neuropeptide precursors by BLAST search and experimental curation. GO-enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes demonstrated that severe downregulation of neuropeptide-related genes occurred concomitantly with CSM. In particular, significant decreases of the transcripts of 37 genes among 88 neuropeptide precursor genes, including those for myomodulin, PentaFVamide, maturation-associated peptide-5A and conopressin, were commonly observed in female and male CSM snails. By contrast, microseminoprotein precursor was the only exceptional case where the expression was increased in CSM snails. These results indicate that down-regulation of neuropeptide precursors is a remarkable feature of CSM. We also found that factors involved in epigenetic modification rather than transcription factors showed altered patterns of expression upon CSM. Comprehensive expression panels of snail neuropeptide precursors made in this study will be useful tools for environmental assessment as well as for studying marine reproductive biology.

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Section: Relevance Of the Nuclear Disaster To The Development Of Csm ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concomitant downregulation of neuropeptide genes in a marine snail with consecutive sexual maturation after a nuclear disaster in Japan

Morishita

Horiguchi²,

Akuta³

et al. 2023

Front. Endocrinol.

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“…Literature data show that cadmium does accumulate in the hermaphrodite glands ( syn. ovotestis) of gastropods ( Vukasinovic-Pesic et al, 2020 ; Dhiman & Pant, 2021 ). This organ is of utmost importance for species survival ( Dallinger et al, 2001 ) and possible transgenerational effects related to exposure to environmental contaminants ( Osborne, Gillis & Prosser, 2020 ; Wang & Liu, 2023 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cadmium nitrate and DNA methylation in gastropods: comparison between ovotestis and hepatopancreas

Drăghici¹,

Dehelean²,

Moaca³

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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Dietary ingestion is the main route of exposure to hazardous contaminants in land animals. Cadmium, a high-profile toxic metal, affects living systems at different organismal levels, including major storage organs (liver, kidneys), key organs for species survival (gonads), and epigenetic networks regulating gene expression. 5-methylcytosine (5mC) is the most common and best-characterized epigenetic mark among different modified nucleosides in DNA. This important player in methylation-driven gene expression is impacted by cadmium in sentinel terrestrial vertebrates. However, limited information exists regarding its impact on macroinvertebrates, especially land snails commonly used as (eco)toxicological models. We first investigate the methylomic effects of dietary cadmium given as cadmium nitrate on terrestrial mollusks. Mature specimens of the common brown garden snail, Cornu aspersum, were continuously exposed for four weeks to environmentally-relevant cadmium levels. We determined global genomic DNA methylation in hepatopancreas and ovotestis, as well as changes in the methylation status of CG pairs at the 5′ region close to the transcription site of gene encoding the Cd-selective metallothionein (Cd-MT). Weight gain/loss, hypometabolism tendency, and survival rates were also assessed. Although this exposure event did not adversely affect survival, gastropods exposed to the highest Cd dose revealed a significant reduction in body weight and a significant increase in hypometabolic behavior. The hepatopancreas, but not the ovotestis, displayed significant hypermethylation, but only for the aforementioned specimens. We also found that the 5′ end of the Cd-MT gene was unmethylated in both organs and its methylation status was insensitive to cadmium exposure. Our results are important since they provide scientists, for the first time, with quantitative data on DNA methylation in gastropod ovotestis and refine our understanding of Cd epigenetic effects on terrestrial mollusks.

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“…Freshwater snails have often been reported as suitable indicators of metal pollution, since they are abundant in many types of freshwaters, have limited mobility and can accumulate large quantities of metals in their tissues (Das and Khangarot 2011 ; Dhiman and Pant 2021 ; Mahmoud and Abu Taleb 2013 ; Otludil and Ayaz 2020 ). The freshwater snail Theodoxus fluviatilis (Linné, 1758) is native to all large rivers in Central Europe (Bunje 2005 ; Zettler 2008 ) and prefers habitats with high oxygen and calcium contents and low salinity (Kangas and Skoog 1978 ; Zettler et al 2004 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Danubian cryptic invader Theodoxus fluviatilis (Gastropoda: Neritidae) in the River Rhine: a potential indicator for metal pollution?

Rothmeier

Martens

Watermann³

et al. 2021

Ecotoxicology

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Metal pollution poses a major threat to aquatic systems especially in anthropogenic influenced areas, in as much as metals are persistent in the environment. The freshwater snail Theodoxus fluviatilis has often been used as an indicator species for the ecological status in river monitoring. In the River Rhine, the native Northern-European form of T. fluviatilis is nowadays extinct, whilst the Danubian form is spreading along the river. The aim of our study was to investigate if the cryptic invader is affected by metal exposure present in the River Rhine and to discuss its potential as an indicator for metal pollution. Several environmental abiotic (14 water environmental variables plus five common metal concentrations in water and biofilm) and biotic parameters (biofilm mass) were measured across 23 sites along the River Rhine. Five population and six histopathological parameters were evaluated on snails collected at all 23 sites. Aqueous chromium concentration was positively correlated to the damage of male reproductive organs of T. fluviatilis, and higher ammonium concentration was correlated to a decrease in snail size and an increase in the proportion of juveniles. None of the analysed snail parameters was negatively correlated to concentrations of other metals measured, like copper and zinc. Therefore, based on the parameters evaluated, our results indicate that the Danubian form of T. fluviatilis is only restrictedly suitable as an indicator for metal pollution in the River Rhine system. Further field and laboratory investigations including other stressors are necessary to evaluate the indicator potential of the cryptic invader holistically.

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Environmental biomonitoring by snails

Cited by 25 publications

References 119 publications

Concomitant downregulation of neuropeptide genes in a marine snail with consecutive sexual maturation after a nuclear disaster in Japan

Concomitant downregulation of neuropeptide genes in a marine snail with consecutive sexual maturation after a nuclear disaster in Japan

Cadmium nitrate and DNA methylation in gastropods: comparison between ovotestis and hepatopancreas

The Danubian cryptic invader Theodoxus fluviatilis (Gastropoda: Neritidae) in the River Rhine: a potential indicator for metal pollution?

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