Transcriptomic analysis of short-term 17α-ethynylestradiol exposure in two Californian sentinel fish species sardine (Sardinops sagax) and mackerel (Scomber japonicus)

Ludivine Renaud; Nisha Agarwal; Dylan J Richards; Silvia Falcinelli; E Starr Hazard; Oliana Carnevali; John Hyde; Gary Hardiman

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2018.10.058

Transcriptomic analysis of short-term 17α-ethynylestradiol exposure in two Californian sentinel fish species sardine (Sardinops sagax) and mackerel (Scomber japonicus)

Environ Pollut. 2019 Jan:244:926-937. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.10.058. Epub 2018 Oct 20.

Authors

Ludivine Renaud¹, Nisha Agarwal², Dylan J Richards³, Silvia Falcinelli⁴, E Starr Hazard⁵, Oliana Carnevali⁴, John Hyde⁶, Gary Hardiman⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Nephrology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
² Biomedical Informatics Research Center, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA.
³ Bioengineering Department, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
⁴ Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica della Marche, 60131, Ancona, Italy.
⁵ MUSC Bioinformatics, Center for Genomics Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Academic Affairs Faculty & Computational Biology Resource Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
⁶ NOAA Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Medicine, Nephrology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Biomedical Informatics Research Center, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA; MUSC Bioinformatics, Center for Genomics Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Laboratory for Marine Systems Biology, Hollings Marine Laboratory, Charleston, SC, USA; School of Biological Sciences & Institute for Global Food Security, Queens University Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5AG, UK. Electronic address: G.Hardiman@qub.ac.uk.

PMID: 30469287
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.10.058

Abstract

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are substances which disrupt normal functioning of the endocrine system by interfering with hormone regulated physiological pathways. Aquatic environments provide the ultimate reservoir for many EDCs as they enter rivers and the ocean via effluent discharges and accumulate in sediments. One EDC widely dispersed in municipal wastewater effluent discharges is 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), which is one of the most widely prescribed medicines. EE2 is a bio-active estrogen employed in the majority of oral contraceptive pill formulations. As evidence of the health risks posed by EDCs mount, there is an urgent need to improve diagnostic tools for monitoring the effects of pollutants. As the cost of high throughput sequencing (HTS) diminishes, transcriptional profiling of an organism in response to EDC perturbation presents a cost-effective way of screening a wide range of endocrine responses. Coastal pelagic filter feeding fish species analyzed using HTS provide an excellent tool for EDC risk assessment in the marine environment. Unfortunately, there are limited genome sequence data and annotation for many of these species including Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax) and chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus), which limits the utility of molecular tools such as HTS to interrogate the effects of endocrine disruption. In this study, we carried out RNA sequencing (RNAseq) of liver RNA harvested from wild sardine and mackerel exposed for 5 h under laboratory conditions to a concentration of 12.5 pM EE2 in the tank water. We developed an analytical framework for transcriptomic analyses of species with limited genomic information. EE2 exposure altered expression patterns of key genes involved in important metabolic and physiological processes. The systems approach presented here provides a powerful tool for obtaining a comprehensive picture of endocrine disruption in aquatic organisms.

Keywords: 17α-ethynylestradiol; Endocrine disrupting chemicals; Genomic biomarkers; Mackerel; RNA sequencing; Sardine; Xenobiotics.

MeSH terms

Animals
California
Endocrine Disruptors / analysis
Endocrine Disruptors / toxicity*
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Ethinyl Estradiol / analysis
Ethinyl Estradiol / toxicity*
Gene Expression Profiling
Perciformes / genetics*
Rivers / chemistry
Sentinel Species / genetics*
Transcriptome / drug effects*
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical / toxicity*

Substances

Endocrine Disruptors
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Ethinyl Estradiol