Project description:The goal of this study was to use global gene expression as a diagnostic tool to compare hepatic gene expression patterns in both male and female FHM in streams with the lowest and highest reproductive success, and potentially identify a suite of mRNA transcripts indicative of reproduction in a population The goal of this study was to compare differences in hepatic mRNA expression between gender at high and low egg-producing streams, not differences between individual streams. A k-means cluster analysis was performed using eggs/pair/day on the original 17 streams to delineate 3 clusters: high, medium and low. From that analysis, FHM from 6 of the original 17-streams used in Crago et al. (2010) were chosen for the microarray experiment (Fig. 1, Table 1). In this study the experimental condition is reproductive success; High versus Low reproductive success. The streams grouped into High Reproductive Success were Oak Creek-2007 (2313 eggs), Point Creek (1277 eggs), Meeme Creek (1164 eggs) and Baird Creek (967 eggs). The streams grouped into Low Reproductive Success were: Ashwaubenon Creek (0 eggs), Devils Creek (541 eggs) and Oak Creek-2006 (642 eggs). Multiple regression analysis using the 22 sediment and water quality characteristics measured in the 6 streams with the highest (n = 4 and lowest (n = 3) streams demonstrated that there were no differences amongst the streams in regards to measure sediment and water variables. .5 One array was run for each gender from each stream. So that Males from Point Creek were pooled and run on one array, males from Ashwaubenon Creek were run on a separate array, and so forth. There were 14 arrays used in this study, 7 for males, 7 for females from individual rivers. So that Males from Point Creek were pooled and run on one array, males from Ashwaubenon Creek were run on a separate array, and so forth. In the case of Oak Creek, which was sampled in both years, there was a large difference in egg production between two years. Therefore separate arrays were run for Oak Creek 2006 and Oak Creek 2007. All streams chosen had overall survival rates of at least 80% through the 21-day sampling period, except Devils River. The survival rate for Devils River was at 100% until four days prior to the end of the experiment when six fish died or escaped.
Project description:The impacts of man-made chemicals, in particular of persistent organic pollutants, are multifactorial as they may affect the integrity of ecosystems, alter biodiversity and hinder the health of most organisms. We have demonstrated that the belowground mycobiota of forest soils acts as a buffer against the pollution provoked by the biocide pentachlorophenol. However the trade-offs of the mitigation of the pollutant remain cryptic. To address this question we scrutinised the key changing aspects of a metacommunity of fungi when confronted (or not) with the biocide, comprising taxonomic and functional levels, as well as the identification of the major pollutant degraders within the metacommunity. Exposure to the biocide led to alterations in the metacommunity composition and functioning, many of which were not fully alleviated when most of the biocide was degraded, especially the dysregulation of the carbon and nitrogen metabolisms. The last is possibly linked to the higher pathogenic potential of the metacommunity after exposure to the biocide, supported by the secretion of proteins related to pathogenicity and reduced susceptibility to a standard fungicide. Our findings provide additional evidence for the silent risks of environmental pollution, particularly as it may favour the development of pathogenic trade-offs in fungi, which may impose serious threats to animals and plant hosts.
Project description:C2C12 myoblasts were infected with a retrovirus expressing Pax7d or with an empty virus (puro) as a control. All of the samples originated from the same common pool of parental C2C12. This pool was split into six streams. A single prep of Pax7d-puro virus was split into three volumes and used to infect three of the streams. A single prep of puro-alone virus was similarly split in three and used to infect the remaining three streams. From the point of the infection forward each stream was maintained distinct from the others. Cells were infected and grown simultaneously under identical conditions. The puro samples may be reused as controls for future experiments, and therefore were immediately hybridized to the MOE430A and MOE430B chips in order to generate a complete dataset. The Pax7d samples, as a specific component of this experiment, were only hybridized to the MOE430A chip as a first-look into the system. Experiment Overall Design: this experiment include 2 samples and 9 replicates
Project description:Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent-dominated streams provide critical habitat for aquatic and terrestrial organisms but also continually expose them to complex mixtures of pharmaceuticals that can potentially impair growth, behavior, and reproduction. Currently, few biomarkers are available that relate to pharmaceutical-specific mechanisms of action. In the experiment reported in this paper, zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos at two developmental stages were exposed to water samples from three sampling sites (0.1 km upstream of the outfall, at the effluent outfall, and 0.1 km below the outfall) during base-flow conditions from two months (January and May) of a temperate-region effluent-dominated stream containing a complex mixture of pharmaceuticals and other contaminants of emerging concern. RNA-sequencing identified potential biological impacts and biomarkers of WWTP effluent exposure that extend past traditional markers of endocrine disruption. Transcriptomics revealed changes to a wide range of biological functions and pathways including cardiac, neurological, visual, metabolic, and signaling pathways. These transcriptomic changes varied by developmental stage and displayed sensitivity to variable chemical composition and concentration of effluent, thus indicating a need for stage-specific biomarkers. Some transcripts are known to be associated with genes related to pharmaceuticals that were present in the collected samples. Although traditional biomarkers of endocrine disruption were not enriched in either month, a high estrogenicity signal was detected upstream in May and implicates the presence of unidentified chemical inputs not captured by the targeted chemical analysis. This work reveals associations between bioeffects of exposure, stage of development, and the composition of chemical mixtures in effluent-dominated surface water. The work underscores the importance of measuring effects beyond the endocrine system when assessing the impact of bioactive chemicals in WWTP effluent and identifies a need for non-targeted chemical analysis when bioeffects are not explained by the targeted analysis.