Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma , 43100 Parma, Italy.
Environ Sci Technol. 2014 May 20;48(10):5902-9. doi: 10.1021/es404958r. Epub 2014 Apr 29.
Cadmium sulfide quantum dots (CdS QDs) are used in the manufacture of a number of electronics products. Their small size allows their ready entry into living cells, but as yet no attempt has been made to assess their toxicity. Our aim was to exploit two Ds transposition-induced mutant lines of Arabidopsis thaliana which tolerated exposure to CdS QDs to identify the genetic basis of their tolerance. Both a genome-wide top-down (from mutant to genes) and a bottom-up (from gene expression to phenotype) approach were applied. The differential responses of the mutants compared to the wild type showed that sensitivity to CdS QDs was unrelated to sensitivity to Cd(2+) ions. A transcriptomic analysis identified a number of genes whose transcript abundance was correlated with the tolerance. The phenotype of one of the mutants was correlated with the overexpression of ELM2, an MYB containing gene visited by a Ds transposon. Segregation analysis showed that the genetic basis of CdS QDs tolerance in both mutants was monogenic. The phenotype of the other mutant could be explained by the mutation of HCF101, a gene involved in photosynthesis.
硫化镉量子点 (CdS QDs) 被用于制造许多电子产品。它们的小尺寸使其能够轻易进入活细胞，但目前尚未有人试图评估其毒性。我们的目的是利用拟南芥中两种耐受 CdS QDs 暴露的 Ds 转座子诱导突变体系来鉴定其耐受的遗传基础。我们采用了一种全基因组的自上而下（从突变体到基因）和自下而上（从基因表达到表型）的方法。与野生型相比，突变体的差异反应表明，对 CdS QDs 的敏感性与对 Cd(2+)离子的敏感性无关。转录组分析鉴定出了一些与耐受相关的基因的转录丰度。其中一个突变体的表型与 ELM2 的过表达相关，ELM2 是一个被 Ds 转座子访问的含有 MYB 的基因。分离分析表明，两个突变体中 CdS QDs 耐受的遗传基础都是单基因的。另一个突变体的表型可以用参与光合作用的 HCF101 基因突变来解释。
