Department of Biology & CESAM, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
Ecotoxicology. 2012 Jan;21(1):213-24. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0780-4. Epub 2011 Sep 4.
The soil oligochaete Enchytraeus albidus is a standard test organism used in biological testing for Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA). Although effects are known at acute and chronic level through survival, reproduction and avoidance behaviour endpoints, very little is known at the sub-cellular and molecular levels. In this study, the effects of soil properties (clay, organic matter and pH) and of the chemicals copper and phenmedipham were studied on E. albidus gene expression, during exposure periods of 2, 4 and 21 days, using DNA microarrays based on a normalised cDNA library for this test species (Amorim et al. 2011). The main objectives of this study were: (1) to assess changes in gene expression of E. albidus over time, and (2) to identify molecular markers for natural and chemical exposures. Results showed an influence of exposure time on gene expression. Transcriptional responses to phenmedipham were seen at 2 days while the responses to copper and the different soils were more pronounced at 4 days of exposure. Some genes were differentially expressed in a stress specific manner and, in general, the responses were related with effects in the energy metabolism and cell growth.
土壤寡毛类环节动物白正蚓是环境风险评估（ERA）生物测试中常用的标准测试生物。虽然通过生存、繁殖和回避行为终点已经知道了在急性和慢性水平上的影响，但在亚细胞和分子水平上知之甚少。在这项研究中，使用基于该测试物种（Amorim 等人，2011 年）的正常化 cDNA 文库的 DNA 微阵列，研究了土壤特性（粘土、有机质和 pH）以及铜和苯嗪草酮这两种化学物质对 E. albidus 基因表达的影响，暴露期为 2、4 和 21 天。本研究的主要目的是：（1）评估 E. albidus 随时间的基因表达变化，（2）确定天然和化学暴露的分子标记。结果表明，暴露时间对基因表达有影响。在 2 天的暴露时间内观察到苯嗪草酮的转录反应，而铜和不同土壤的反应在 4 天的暴露时间内更为明显。一些基因以特定的应激方式差异表达，并且，一般来说，这些反应与能量代谢和细胞生长的影响有关。
