Project description:Methylmercury (MeHg) is a ubiquitous environmental toxicant that is often detected in the tissues of fish-eating species. It has been well established that prenatal exposure to MeHg can lead to widespread brain damage and impaired neurological development resulting in defects ranging from severe cerebral palsy and cognitive deficits to impaired motor and sensory function. A wide range of environmental toxicants have been shown to induce transgenerational inheritance of diseases via changes in DNA methylation—a well-known epigenetic modification. Our previous research has demonstrated that developmental MeHg exposure may yield transgenerational inheritance of neurological dysfunction in adult F3-lineage zebrafish via quantitative neurobehavioral assays that evaluated the visual startle response, retinal electrophysiology, and locomotor function. The objective of the current study was to examine the correlation between neurobehavioral phenotypes and the transcriptome activity in the brain and retina of F3 zebrafish by RNA sequencing (RNAseq). Transcriptomic analyses of F3 generation MeHg-treated zebrafish (compared to control) revealed significant gene dysregulation in both the brain and retina. There were 1648 and 138 differentially expressed genes in the retina and brain, respectively (FDR <0.05). Thirty-five genes were commonly dysregulated in both organs. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed significantly enriched pathways including: neurodevelopment, visual functions, phototransduction, and motor movement. Moreover, commonly dysregulated genes were associated with circadian rhythm and metabolic pathways, as well as arginine and proline metabolism. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of a transgenerational transcriptome induced by ancestral developmental exposure to MeHg in any species. If the transgenerational phenotypes, transcriptome, homologous biomarkers, or similar molecular pathways hold true for human populations, our findings have significant impact on global public health in terms of identifying the susceptible populations using biomarkers and preventing transgenerational inheritance of MeHg-induced neurobehavioral deficits.

Project description:Methylmercury (MeHg) toxicity in humans manifests deficits in neurological function. Cases of prenatal exposure to mercury have established that the developing nervous system is most highly susceptible to perturbation by MeHg. At a cellular level, MeHg-induced defects result from altered neuronal proliferation, migration and pathfinding. However, the molecular targets of MeHg that give rise to these outcomes are not fully understood. In an overall effort to identify the fundamental molecular targets of MeHg in neural development, we are investigating the effects of MeHg on gene expression and protein function in the Drosophila model. Since the fundamental signaling pathways in development of multicellular animals have been extensively characterized in Drosophila, and demonstrate high degree of conservation in vertebrates, we believe these data will lead us to the most pertinent pathways affected by MeHg and begin to elucidate the mechanism of MeHg neural toxicity relevant to cases of human exposure to this prevalent environmental toxin. Our aim is to identify fundamental signaling pathways in neural development that are targets for MeHg poisoning. Our hypothesis is that MeHg, by direct interaction with cysteine thiol groups, alters the function signaling pathway proteins and subsequently alters transcription of target genes in the respective pathways. Our hypothesis is supported by our recent data demonstrating a direct action of MeHg in activating the Notch receptor pathway and upregulating target gene expression. We anticipate a microarray analysis will elucidate additional fundamental signaling pathways where transcription is affected by this toxin. Fertilized female flies are fed on food containing methylmercury (1-20 micromolar) or solvent control (DMSO) for a period of five days to allow for MeHg penetration in to eggs. Flies are then transfered to a cage for embryo collection for a discrete window of time (e.g. 1hr). Embryos are aged 16-24 hours and collected for total RNA extraction using the Trizol reagent. Total RNA is quantitated by spectrophotometry with a Nanodrop reader. While concentration dependent effects of MeHg are of interest, initial experiments will be conducted on samples exposed to a single concetration known to illicit effect in other bioassays (e.g. 10 micromolar). The goal is to see which genes are up- or down-regulated with MeHg exposure, as compared to control embryos that are not exposed. Emphasis in the analysis stage will be in identifying target genes of known signaling pathways. Keywords: dose response

Project description:Methylmercury (MeHg) is a potent neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor that accumulates in aquatic systems. Previous studies have shown suppression of hormone levels in both male and female fish, suggesting effects on gonadotropin regulation in the brain. We investigated the gene expression profile in adult female zebrafish whole brain induced by acute (96 hr) MeHg exposure. Fish were exposed by injection to 0 or 0.5 M-BM-5g MeHg/g. Gene expression changes in the brain were examined using a two-color 22,000 feature zebrafish microarray. At a significance level of p<0.01, 79 genes were up-regulated and 76 genes were down-regulated in response to MeHg exposure. Individual genes exhibiting altered expression in response to MeHg exposure implicate effects on glutathione metabolism and GABA-A receptors in the mechanism of MeHg neurotoxicity. Gene ontology (GO) terms significantly enriched among altered genes included protein folding, cell redox homeostasis, and steroid biosynthetic process. The most affected biological functions were related to the nervous system development and function, as well as lipid metabolism and molecular transport. These results support the involvement of oxidative stress and effects on protein structure in the mechanism of action of MeHg in the female brain. Future studies will compare the gene expression profile induced in response to MeHg with that induced by other toxins and investigate responsive genes as potential biomarkers of MeHg exposure. Wild-type strain AB-1 zebrafish (Zebrafish International Resource Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR) were cultured at the Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC), USGS, for MeHg exposures. Adult female zebrafish were injected with 0 M-NM-<g/g or 0.5 M-NM-<g/g MeHg in 2 M-BM-5L Na2CO3 (pH 6.98)/g body weight. After 96 hr, fish were anesthetized using ethyl 3-aminobenzoate methanesulfonate (MS-222, Sigma, St. Louis, MO). Whole brains were removed, flash frozen with liquid nitrogen and stored at 80M-BM-0C. For the microarray experiment, two zebrafish brains were pooled per sample. Four pooled samples were taken from fish treated with 0.5 M-NM-<g/g of MeHg, and the other five were taken from control fish treated with sodium carbonate. Array hybridizations were performed using a reference design, where each sample was compared to a reference sample. The reference sample consisted of equal amounts of RNA from control and treated female brains. Five replicates for the control and four replicates for the treated were analyzed. cDNA synthesis, cRNA labeling, amplification and hybridization were performed following the manufacturerM-bM-^@M-^Ys kits and protocols (Agilent Low RNA Input Fluorescent Linear Amplification Kit and Agilent 60-mer oligo microarray processing protocol; Agilent, Palo Alto, CA).

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