Molecular mechanisms of zooplanktonic toxicity in the okadaic acid-producing dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima

Yufeng Gong; Keke Zhang; Ningbo Geng; Minghuo Wu; Xianliang Yi; Renyan Liu; Jonathan K Challis; Garry Codling; Elvis Genbo Xu; John P Giesy

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116942

Molecular mechanisms of zooplanktonic toxicity in the okadaic acid-producing dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima

Environ Pollut. 2021 Jun 15:279:116942. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116942. Epub 2021 Mar 12.

Authors

Yufeng Gong¹, Keke Zhang², Ningbo Geng³, Minghuo Wu², Xianliang Yi⁴, Renyan Liu⁵, Jonathan K Challis⁶, Garry Codling⁷, Elvis Genbo Xu⁸, John P Giesy⁹

Affiliations

¹ School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin Campus, Panjin, Liaoning, China; Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
² School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin Campus, Panjin, Liaoning, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Sciences for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, China.
⁴ School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin Campus, Panjin, Liaoning, China. Electronic address: yixianliang@dlut.edu.cn.
⁵ National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
⁶ Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
⁷ Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; RECETOX Centre, Masaryk University, Kamenice, Brno, Czech Republic.
⁸ Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
⁹ Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department of Environmental Sciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 33765503
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116942

Abstract

Prorocentrum lima is a dinoflagellate that forms hazardous blooms and produces okadaic acid (OA), leading to adverse environmental consequences associated with the declines of zooplankton populations. However, little is known about the toxic effects and molecular mechanisms of P. lima or OA on zooplankton. Here, their toxic effects were investigated using the brine shrimp Artemia salina. Acute exposure of A. salina to P. lima resulted in lethality at concentrations 100-fold lower than densities observed during blooms. The first comprehensive results from global transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses in A. salina showed up-regulated mRNA expression of antioxidant enzymes and reduced non-enzyme antioxidants, indicating general detoxification responses to oxidative stress after exposure to P. lima. The significantly up-regulated mRNA expression of proteasome, spliceosome, and ribosome, as well as the increased fatty acid oxidation and oxidative phosphorylation suggested the proteolysis of damaged proteins and induction of energy expenditure. Exposure to OA increased catabolism of chitin, which may further disrupt the molting and reproduction activities of A. salina. Our data shed new insights on the molecular responses and toxicity mechanisms of A. salina to P. lima or OA. The simple zooplankton model integrated with omic methods provides a sensitive assessment approach for studying hazardous algae.

Keywords: Metabolomics; Toxic algal bloom; Transcriptomic; Zooplankton.

MeSH terms

Animals
Artemia
Dinoflagellida*
Okadaic Acid / toxicity
Zooplankton

Substances

Okadaic Acid