Project description:Human activities and climate change have negatively affected the world's oceans, leading to a 30-60% decline in biodiversity and habitats in coastal ecosystems. Marine turtles, as bioindicator species, accumulate contaminants, including trace elements, due to their extensive migration and long life span. However, there is a lack of data on the abundance of these contaminants and their effects on marine turtles' health. This study focuses on analyzing the muscle proteome of juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) from Reunion Island. The ultimate goal was to evaluate whether muscle proteome responds to in-situ mixtures of inorganic contaminants to decipher the possible impacts on individual health, thereby identifying potential new biomarkers for long-term monitoring and conservation efforts.
Project description:In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in an estimated loss of 61,000–174,000 sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. Rescued Kemp’s ridley sea turtle exhibited adverse effects, including physiological stress and severe derangements. While prior studies evaluated health impacts of oil exposure, effects on plasma proteins remained largely unexplored. This study compared the plasma proteome of turtles from two oiling categories (OC) before and after rehabilitation. Plasma samples were collected from lightly oiled (n=9) and heavily oiled (n=15) turtles at admission and post-rehabilitation. Proteins were analyzed using label-free tandem mass spectrometry. At admission, few differences were observed between groups, with 17 proteins reduced in heavily oiled turtles relative to lightly oiled turtles. After rehabilitation, no significant differences were detected, suggesting normalization of the plasma proteome. Osteocalcin, a bone mineralization and metabolic hormone, displayed a large increase after recovery implicating a mechanistic role for this hormone in the recovery of sea turtles. Unexpectedly, alpha-fetoprotein was the most abundant plasma protein in 41 of 48 samples representing 20.2 ± 3.1% of the molar protein fraction surpassing albumin which is routinely measured for diagnostic evaluation. These findings demonstrate that plasma proteomics can distinguish oiling status and support future biomarker development.
Project description:The aim of the study was to monitor and analyse injured and diseased loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) plasma proteome profiles during their recovery period in rescue centre within different age and recovery period groups, and determine the potential biomarkers that can be used in diagnostics.