Project description:We applied an effects-based approach to determine if the impact of specific chemicals in mixtures discharged by waste water treatment plants could be linked to well-defined gene expression changes in exposed fish. Fathead minnows were deployed in cages for 2, 4, or 8 days at three locations near two WWTP discharge sites in the Saint Louis Bay, Duluth, MN and one upstream control site. The impact of 51 chemicals detected in the surface water on gene expression in ovaries of caged fish was determined using exposure activity ratios, existing knowledge on chemical:gene relationships, and analysis of gene expression co-variance with surface water chemistry. Thirty-two chemicals could be linked to gene expression and 12 were confirmed by other sources such as the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). Chemical:gene associations determined by co-variation were supported by exposure activity ratios sufficient to cause biological effects, known chemical:gene associations from CTD, and upstream regulator analysis of the Ingenuity knowledge base. The analyses provided multiple lines of evidence that bisphenol A and estrone are likely sources of estrogenic effects on gene expression found at the study sites.
Project description:ABSTRACT: Background: Though central to our understanding of how roots perform their vital function of scavenging water and solutes from the soil, no direct genetic evidence currently exists to support the foundational model that suberin acts to form a chemical barrier limiting the extracellular, or apoplastic, transport of water and solutes in plant roots. Methodologies/Principle Findings: Using the newly characterized enhanced suberin1 (esb1) mutant, we established a connection in Arabidopsis thaliana between suberin in the root, and both water movement through the plant, and solute accumulation in the shoot. Esb1 mutants, characterized by increased root suberin, were found to have reduced day time transpiration rates, and increased water use efficiency during their vegetative growth period. Furthermore, these changes in suberin and water transport were associated with decreases in the accumulation of Ca, Mn and Zn, and increases in the accumulation of Na, S, K, As, Se and Mo in the shoot. Conclusions/Significance: Here we present direct genetic evidence establishing that suberin in the roots plays a critical role in controlling both water and mineral ion uptake and transport to the leaves. The changes observed in the elemental accumulation in leaves are also interpreted as evidence that a significant component of the radial root transport of Ca, Mn and Zn occurs in the apoplast. Keywords: genomic hybridization bulked segregant analysis