Project description:Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the TnBP-induced intestinal toxicity mechanism on earthworm Eisenia fetida. Methods: The intestinal tissues of nine earthworms under control and 10 mg/kg TnBP treatments were separately pooled into three replicates (three earthworms per replication) to obtain sufficient amounts of RNA for transcriptomic assessments, using BGISEQ-500. qRT–PCR validation was performed using SYBR Green assays. Results: A total of 10,401 contig sequences, mapped to 313 KEGG pathways,were classified. Scatter plots of DEGs based on the results showed that 3786 genes were significantly up regulated and 1084 genes were significantly downregulated at a P-value cut off of 0.01 . Pathway enrichment analysis of DEGs was performed to identify the potential biological functions for the interaction of genes based on the KEGG database. Pathways of the Digestive system were severely affected in the transcriptome dataset for the pathways of Protein digestion and absorption, Salivary secretion, Gastric acid secretion, and Bile secretion disruption. This is in accordance with the intestinal injury results of the digestive tract degradation and the alteration of digestive activities.
Project description:Purpose: We studied the potential effects of lindane aging in soil on model earthworm Eisenia fetida at the transcriptomic level. Methods: transcriptomes of earthworms were generated by RNA sequencing using Illumina Hiseq Xten platform. Results: There were 1325 DE unigenes in G2 (1074 up and 251 down), 784 DE unigenes in G3 (457 up and 327 down), 3658 DE unigenes in G4 (2294 up and 1364 down), and 1511 DE unigenes in G5 (929 up and 582 down) compared with G1. Except in G2, lindane exposure caused significant impacts on cholinergic and GABAergic synaptic transmission in earthworms in other groups. The metabolic processes of ACh were also altered. It was of note that the term positive regulation of locomotion (GO:0040017) in G5 could be regarded as the phenotype of the interaction of two NTs. Conclusions: We found that aging of lindane prior to exposure promoted the disrupting effects of lindane on earthworm neurotransmission.
Project description:The present research shows the antitumor activity of a protein-polysaccharide complex Venetin-1 obtained from the fluid of Dendrobaena veneta earthworms against A549 cancer cells. The investigations are a continuation of experiments on the antitumor activity of the coelomic fluid from this species. The Venetin-1 nanoparticle was obtained after thermal treatment of the coelomic fluid, separation from coelomocytes, filtration, and lyophilization. The preparation showed a selective effect on cancer cells while sparing normal cells. Venetin-1 was effective against the lung cancer cells at doses of 31.3 and 62.5 µg/ml, which was imaged using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The cells died mainly via the apoptosis pathway. Necrotic cells appeared sporadically in the microscopic view. SEM imaging revealed complete destruction of the A549 cells after the incubation with Venetin-1. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses showed changes in the topography, peak force error images, and Young’s modulus (elasticity) of the A549 cells after the incubation with Venetin-1. The transmission electron cryomicroscopy (Cryo-TEM) microscopic analysis indicated a polymeric nature of the analyzed preparation. The samples of Venetin-1 showed a very homogeneous size profile with the microparticle size determined to be around 58.23 nm. A significant decrease in Venetin-1 binding to sphingomyelin was observed. Venetin-1 lost its pore-forming activity or deactivation of the pore-forming activity occurred. This confirms the lack of hemolytic capacity of Venetin-1 towards red blood cells.
Project description:The earthworm Eisenia fetida is one of the most used species in standardized soil ecotoxicity tests. Endpoints such as survival, growth and reproduction are ecologically relevant but provide little mechanistic insight into the toxicity pathways, especially at the molecular level. To better understand toxicological modes of action and to facilitate the development of molecular biomarkers, we have obtained 30,245 unique EST sequences from E. fetida and have designed a novel microarray with 15,119 60-mer oligonucleotide probes. These probes target the unique non-redundant EST sequences identified in E. fetida. Using this array we have profiled gene expression of E. fetida after exposure to CL-20, a cage cyclic nitramine previously found exhibiting reversible neurotoxicity to worms. Worms were exposed for 6 days to CL-20. Half of the exposed worms were allowed to recover in a clean environment for 7 days. Electrophysiological analysis showed that the conduction velocity of worm medial giant nerve fiber was significantly decreased after 6-d exposure to CL-20, and that giant nerve fiber function was restored at the end of the 7-d recovery period. Total RNA samples isolated from four treatment groups (6 replicates per group), i.e., 6-d control, 6-d exposed, 13-d control and 6-d exposed with 7-d recovery, were analyzed using the new 15K oligo array. Bioinformatics and statistical analyses have identified specific neurological pathways affected by CL-20 and recovery of these pathways after CL-20 removal. These results provide significant insights on the CL-20 toxic mode of action and how earthworms can recover from chemical stressors. Adult earthworms (E. fetida) were exposed on filter paper to CL-20 (0.2 ug/cm2) for 6 days with or without 7-day recovery (4 treatment groups in total). Each treatment group had 9 replicate worms, six of which were used for gene expression analysis. Worms were measured for their medial giant nerve fiber conduction velocity using a non-invasive electrophysiological technique immediately before takedown. At the termination of the 6-d or 13-d experiment, worms were snap-frozen and fixed in RNAlater-ICE. Total RNA was isolated from the fixed worms. A total of 24 worm RNA samples were hybridized to three 8x15K custom-designed Agilent oligo arrays using Agilentâs one-color Low RNA Input Linear Amplification Kit. The array contains 15,208 non-redundant 60-mer probes, each targeting a unique E. fetida transcript. After hybridization and scanning, gene expression data were acquired using GenePix Pro 6.0.