TA2 Molecular Indicators for Ecological Exposure
255 Portland Ballroom
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Tuesday
() Identification of differentially expressed genes in the aquatic plant Lemna gibba in response to copper exposure.
Akhtar, T1, Lees, H1, Greenberg, B1, 1 University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT- Metal contamination exists largely in the aquatic environments. Because aquatic plants form the basis of the food web, metals that are assimilated by these plants, in addition to causing stress, move up the food chain and compromise the integrity of the rest of the aquatic biosphere. A great deal of metal toxicity can be attributed to ROS mechanisms. To provide insight into the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of copper toxicity, changes in enzyme levels and gene expression were assessed. First we found that ROS and ROS-scavenging enzymes are induced. We further isolated ten gene fragments from the aquatic plant Lemna gibba, using differential display PCR (ddPCR). Their expression was shown to be altered by copper and these gene products are involved in a variety of cell processes, several of which can be connected to ROS damage.
Key words: copper, differential display PCR, ROS, Lemna