MP7 Toxicogenomics in Environmental Studies
Monday, 14 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM in Exhibit Hall

(BOZ-1117-821883) Embryonic gene expression among natural Fundulus populations: sensitivity and resitance to pollution.

Bozinovic, G.¹, Oleksiak, M.F.¹, ¹ North Carolina State University

ABSTRACT- Embryos are highly sensitive to pollution, and exposure to contaminated water and sediments can result in altered development and growth and can affect survival. However, while sediment extracts from highly polluted environments can be lethal to Fundulus heteroclitus embryos from clean sites, embryos of parents from the polluted environment are remarkably resistant. What changes during development contribute to this resistance? This study uses microarray analyses to quantify changes in mRNA expression during development in order to test the hypothesis that altered gene expression during sensitive developmental stages contributes to resistance. The patterns of developmentally expressed genes in F1 Fundulus embryos of parents from three independent, geographically unrelated, polluted sites and contrasting populations from clean sites are analyzed. This study addresses following questions: 1. What are the differences in gene expression during sensitive developmental stages between the embryos of fish collected from clean and polluted sites? 2. Which patterns of gene expression are conserved among polluted populations? Conserved differences among populations of Fundulus from polluted sites might indicate common responses to stress and will be pursued for analysis of functional relevance. Differences in developmental gene expression will also be used to target genes and explore mechanisms that underline biological responses caused by chronic exposure to pollutants.

Key words: toxicogenomics, microarrays, embryos, resistance