The transportation, transformation and (bio)accumulation of pharmaceuticals in the terrestrial ecosystem

Soil dwelling organisms, plants and many primary consumers in food webs face the challenge of exposure to contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) present in terrestrial systems, including thousands of substances derived from pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs). The recent increase in the consumption of modern human or veterinary drugs has resulted in a surge of anthropogenic pharmaceuticals, frequently introduced into terrestrial environments via untreated/treated wastewater. Pharmaceuticals display diverse degradation and accumulation behaviours in receiving bodies, however their impact on soils has, at large, been overlooked. Details about adsorption, absorption, degradation and uptake behaviours, as well as the fate and actual environmental impact of pharmaceuticals are a prerequisite before the traditional transportation prediction models originally designed for the aquatic environment can be extrapolated to terrestrial systems. Without this knowledge, our ability for informed risk assessments and the resultant implementation of contamination management strategies of soils will remain limited. This review discusses the current knowledgebase pertaining the introduction of pharmaceuticals to soils via wastewater irrigation or the application of biosolids. The focus on the transportation, transformation and accumulation of pharmaceuticals through the food chain highlights the urgent need to strengthen our capabilities concerning their detection and characterization in the terrestrial ecosystem

Effect of egg turning and incubation time on carbonic anhydrase gene expression in the blastoderm of the Japanese quail (Coturnix c. japonica)

(1) The gene expression of carbonic anhydrase, a key enzyme for the production sub-embryonic fluid (SEF), was assessed in turned and unturned eggs of the Japanese quail. The plasma membrane-associated isoforms CA IV, CAIX, CA XII, CA XIV, and the cytoplasmic isoform CA II, were investigated in the extra-embryonic tissue of the blastoderm and in embryonic blood. (2) Eggs were incubated at 37.6C, c. 60% R.H., and turned hourly (90 ) or left unturned. From 48 to 96 hours of incubation mRNA was extracted from blastoderm tissue, reverse-transcribed to cDNA and quantified by real-time qPCR using gene-specific primers. Blood collected at 96h was processed identically. (3) Blastoderm CAIV gene expression increased with the period of incubation only in turned eggs, with maxima at 84 and 96h of incubation. Only very low levels were found in blood. (4) Blastoderm CA II gene expression was greatest at 48 and 54h of incubation, subsequently declining to much lower levels and una ected by turning. Blood CA II gene expression was about 25-fold greater than that in the blastoderm. (5) The expression of CA IX in the blastoderm was the highest of all isoforms, yet unaffected by turning. CA XII did not amplify and CA XIV was present at unquantifiable low levels. (6) It is concluded that solely gene expression for CA IV is sensitive to egg turning, and that increased CA IV gene expression could account for the additional SEF mass found at 84-96h of incubation. in embryos of turned eggs

The yield of essential oils in Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae) is regulated through transcript abundance of genes in the MEP pathway

Medicinal tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) leaves contain large amounts of an essential oil, dominated by monoterpenes. Several enzymes of the chloroplastic methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway are hypothesised to act as bottlenecks to the production of monoterpenes. We investigated, whether transcript abundance of genes encoding for enzymes of the MEP pathway were correlated with foliar terpenes in M. alternifolia using a population of 48 individuals that ranged in their oil concentration from 39 -122 mg x g DM(-1). Our study shows that most genes in the MEP pathway are co-regulated and that the expression of multiple genes within the MEP pathway is correlated with oil yield. Using multiple regression analysis, variation in expression of MEP pathway genes explained 87% of variation in foliar monoterpene concentrations. The data also suggest that sesquiterpenes in M. alternifolia are synthesised, at least in part, from isopentenyl pyrophosphate originating from the plastid via the MEP pathway

Enchytraeus albidus Microarray: Enrichment, Design, Annotation and Database (EnchyBASE)

Enchytraeus albidus (Oligochaeta) is an ecologically relevant species used as standard test organisms for risk assessment. Effects of stressors in this species are commonly determined at the population level using reproduction and survival as endpoints. The assessment of transcriptomic responses can be very useful e.g. to understand underlying mechanisms of toxicity with gene expression fingerprinting. In the present paper the following is being addressed: 1) development of suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) libraries enriched for differentially expressed genes after metal and pesticide exposures; 2) sequencing and characterization of all generated cDNA inserts; 3) development of a publicly available genomic database on E. albidus. A total of 2100 Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) were isolated, sequenced and assembled into 1124 clusters (947 singletons and 177 contigs). From these sequences, 41% matched known proteins in GenBank (BLASTX, e-value≤10-5) and 37% had at least one Gene Ontology (GO) term assigned. In total, 5.5% of the sequences were assigned to a metabolic pathway, based on KEGG. With this new sequencing information, an Agilent custom oligonucleotide microarray was designed, representing a potential tool for transcriptomic studies. EnchyBASE (http://bioinformatics.ua.pt/enchybase/) was developed as a web freely available database containing genomic information on E. albidus and will be further extended in the near future for other enchytraeid species. The database so far includes all ESTs generated for E. albidus from three cDNA libraries. This information can be downloaded and applied in functional genomics and transcription studies

Design, Validation and Annotation of Transcriptome-Wide Oligonucleotide Probes for the Oligochaete Annelid Eisenia fetida

High density oligonucleotide probe arrays have increasingly become an important tool in genomics studies. In organisms with incomplete genome sequence, one strategy for oligo probe design is to reduce the number of unique probes that target every non-redundant transcript through bioinformatic analysis and experimental testing. Here we adopted this strategy in making oligo probes for the earthworm Eisenia fetida, a species for which we have sequenced transcriptome-scale expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Our objectives were to identify unique transcripts as targets, to select an optimal and non-redundant oligo probe for each of these target ESTs, and to annotate the selected target sequences. We developed a streamlined and easy-to-follow approach to the design, validation and annotation of species-specific array probes. Four 244K-formatted oligo arrays were designed using eArray and were hybridized to a pooled E. fetida cRNA sample. We identified 63,541 probes with unsaturated signal intensities consistently above the background level. Target transcripts of these probes were annotated using several sequence alignment algorithms. Significant hits were obtained for 37,439 (59%) probed targets. We validated and made publicly available 63.5K oligo probes so the earthworm research community can use them to pursue ecological, toxicological, and other functional genomics questions. Our approach is efficient, cost-effective and robust because it (1) does not require a major genomics core facility; (2) allows new probes to be easily added and old probes modified or eliminated when new sequence information becomes available, (3) is not bioinformatics-intensive upfront but does provide opportunities for more in-depth annotation of biological functions for target genes; and (4) if desired, EST orthologs to the UniGene clusters of a reference genome can be identified and selected in order to improve the target gene specificity of designed probes. This approach is particularly applicable to organisms with a wealth of EST sequences but unfinished genome

The significance of genome-wide transcriptional regulation in the evolution of stress tolerance.

It is widely recognized that stress plays an important role in directing the adaptive adjustment of an organism to changing environments. However, very little is known about the evolution of mechanisms that promote stress-induced variation. Adaptive transcriptional responses have been implicated in the evolution of tolerance to natural and anthropogenic stressors in the environment. Recent technological advances in transcriptomics provide a mechanistic understanding of biological pathways or processes involved in stress-induced phenotypic change. Furthermore, these studies are (semi) quantitative and provide insight into the reaction norms of identified target genes in response to specific stressors. We argue that plasticity in gene expression reaction norms may be important in the evolution of stress tolerance and adaptation to environmental stress. This review highlights the consequences of transcriptional plasticity of stress responses within a single generation and concludes that gene promoters containing a TATA box are more capable of rapid and variable responses than TATA-less genes. In addition, the consequences of plastic transcriptional responses to stress over multiple generations are discussed. Based on examples from the literature, we show that constitutive over expression of specific stress response genes results in stress adapted phenotypes. However, organisms with an innate capacity to buffer stress display plastic transcriptional responses. Finally, we call for an improved integration of the concept of phenotypic plasticity with studies that focus on the regulation of transcription. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Control genes in quantitative molecular biological techniques: the variability of invariance

The measurement of transcript levels constitutes the foundation of today’s molecular genetics. Independent of the techniques used, quantifications are generally normalised using invariant control genes to account for sample handling, loading and experimental variation. All of the widely used control genes are evaluated, dissecting different methodologi-Ž.cal approaches and issues regarding the experimental context e.g. development and tissue type. Furthermore, the major sources of error are highlighted when applying these techniques. Finally, different approaches undertaken to assess the invariance of control genes are critically analysed to generate a procedure that will help to discern the bes