title: Microarray applications to understand the impact of exposure to environmental contaminants in wild dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).
abstract: It is increasingly common to monitor the marine environment and establish geographic trends of environmental contamination by measuring contaminant levels in animals from higher trophic levels. The health of an ecosystem is largely reflected in the health of its inhabitants. As an apex predator, the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) can reflect the health of near shore marine ecosystems, and reflect coastal threats that pose risk to human health, such as legacy contaminants or marine toxins, e.g. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and brevetoxins. Major advances in the understanding of dolphin biology and the unique adaptations of these animals in response to the marine environment are being made as a result of the development of cell-lines for use in in vitro experiments, the production of monoclonal antibodies to recognize dolphin proteins, the development of dolphin DNA microarrays to measure global gene expression and the sequencing of the dolphin genome. These advances may play a central role in understanding the complex and specialized biology of the dolphin with regard to how this species responds to an array of environmental insults. This work presents the creation, characterization and application of a new molecular tool to better understand the complex and unique biology of the common bottlenose dolphin and its response to environmental stress and infection. A dolphin oligo microarray representing 24,418 unigene sequences was developed and used to analyze blood samples collected from 69 dolphins during capture-release health assessments at five geographic locations (Beaufort, NC, Sarasota Bay, FL, Saint Joseph Bay, FL, Sapelo Island, GA and Brunswick, GA). The microarray was validated and tested for its ability to: 1) distinguish male from female dolphins; 2) differentiate dolphins inhabiting different geographic locations (Atlantic coasts vs the Gulf of Mexico); and 3) study in detail dolphins resident in one site, the Georgia coast, known to be heavily contaminated by Aroclor 1268, an uncommon polychlorinated (PCB) mixture. The microarray was able to distinguish dolphins by sex, geographic location, and corroborate previously published health irregularities for the Georgia dolphins. Genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, development/differentiation and oncogenic pathways were found to be differentially expressed in GA dolphins. The report bridges the advancements in dolphin genome sequencing to the first step towards providing a cost-effective means to screen for indicators of chemical toxin exposure as well as disease status in top level predators.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy; Marine Biomedicine and Environmental Science Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Hollings Marine Laboratory, Charleston, SC 29412, USA. Electronic address: annalaura.mancia@unife.it.
authors.forename: Annalaura
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mancia
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abelli
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Hollings Marine Laboratory, Charleston, SC 29412, USA.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kucklick
authors.affiliation: NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Species, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
authors.forename: Teresa K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Rowles
authors.affiliation: Chicago Zoological Society, c/o Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL 34236, USA.
authors.forename: Randall S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.affiliation: NOAA, National Ocean Service, Hollings Marine Laboratory, Charleston, SC 29412, USA.
authors.forename: Brian C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Balmer
authors.affiliation: NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA.
authors.forename: Aleta A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hohn
authors.affiliation: Marine Biomedicine and Environmental Science Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Hollings Marine Laboratory, Charleston, SC 29412, USA.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Baatz
authors.affiliation: NOAA, National Ocean Service, Hollings Marine Laboratory, Charleston, SC 29412, USA.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001140:Aroclors; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D050681:Bottle-Nosed Dolphin / Q000378:metabolism*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D005843:Geography; D060851:Gulf of America; D008297:Male; D046228:Microarray Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: C492961:Aroclor 1268; D001140:Aroclors; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Common bottlenose dolphin; Ocean health; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Transcriptome