Institute of Microbiology, Jiangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanchang 330096, China.
Institute of Microbiology, Jiangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanchang 330096, China; College of Life Science, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Mar 1;914:169782. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169782. Epub 2024 Jan 3.
Mixed legacy and emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are commonly found in soil and dust; however, the potential toxicity of PFAS mixtures (mPFASs) in insects is unknown. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq), we evaluated the adverse effects of mPFASs on silkworms, a typical lepidopteran insect. After exposure to mPFASs, the silkworm midgut was enriched with high levels of PFASs, which induced histopathological changes. The composition of the midgut microbiota was significantly affected by mPFAS exposure, and functional predictions revealed significant disruption of some metabolic pathways. RNA-seq analysis revealed that mPFASs significantly changed the transcription profiles. Functional enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes also revealed that biological processes related to metabolic pathways and the digestive system were significantly affected, similar to the results of the gut microbiota analysis, suggesting that mPFAS exposure had an adverse effect on the metabolic function of silkworms and may further affect their normal growth. Finally, the significant correlation between abundance changes in the gut microbiota and metabolism/digestion-related genes further highlighted the role of the gut microbiota in mPFAS-related processes affecting the metabolic functions of silkworms. To our knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate the toxic effects of mPFASs in insects and provide basic data for further PFAS toxicity investigations in insects and comprehensive ecological risk assessments of mPFASs.
混合的传统和新兴的全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFASs）通常存在于土壤和灰尘中；然而，PFAS 混合物（mPFASs）在昆虫中的潜在毒性尚不清楚。本研究使用 16S rRNA 基因测序和转录组测序（RNA-Seq），评估了 mPFASs 对家蚕（一种典型的鳞翅目昆虫）的不良影响。在家蚕暴露于 mPFASs 后，其中肠富含高水平的 PFASs，这诱导了组织病理学变化。mPFASs 暴露显著影响了中肠微生物群的组成，功能预测显示一些代谢途径受到显著破坏。RNA-seq 分析表明，mPFASs 显著改变了转录谱。差异表达基因的功能富集分析也表明，与代谢途径和消化系统相关的生物过程受到显著影响，这与肠道微生物群分析的结果相似，表明 mPFASs 暴露对家蚕的代谢功能有不良影响，并可能进一步影响其正常生长。最后，肠道微生物群和代谢/消化相关基因丰度变化之间的显著相关性进一步强调了肠道微生物群在 mPFAS 相关过程中在影响家蚕代谢功能方面的作用。据我们所知，本研究首次评估了 mPFASs 在昆虫中的毒性作用，并为进一步研究昆虫中 PFAS 的毒性以及综合评估 mPFASs 的生态风险提供了基础数据。
