Mercury (Hg) is an environmental pollutant that impacts human and ecosystem health. In our previous works, we reported alterations in the properties of Mytilus galloprovincialis protamine-like (PL) proteins after 24 h of exposure to subtoxic doses of toxic metals such as copper and cadmium. The present work aims to assess the effects of 24 h of exposure to 1, 10, and 100 pM HgCl2 on spermatozoa and PL proteins of Mytilus galloprovincialis. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry indicated accumulation of this metal in the gonads of exposed mussels. Further, RT-qPCR analyses showed altered expression levels of spermatozoa mt10 and hsp70 genes. In Mytilus galloprovincialis, PL proteins represent the major basic component of sperm chromatin. These proteins, following exposure of mussels to HgCl2, appeared, by SDS-PAGE, partly as aggregates and showed a decreased DNA-binding capacity that rendered them unable to prevent DNA damage, in the presence of CuCl2 and H2O2. These results demonstrate that even these doses of HgCl2 exposure could affect the properties of PL proteins and result in adverse effects on the reproductive system of this organism. These analyses could be useful in developing rapid and efficient chromatin-based genotoxicity assays for pollution biomonitoring programs.
Keywords: HgCl2; male gametes; mussel; reproduction; sperm chromatin; sperm nuclear basic proteins.