Genome-wide identification of molecular pathways and biomarkers in response to arsenic exposure in zebrafish liver
In the present study, we employed the RNA sequencing platform to examine the molecular response of zebrafish liver to arsenic exposure and carry out detailed transcriptomic analyses for further understanding of molecular toxicity. We found that several important biological processes were perturbed by arsenic exposure, including oxidation reduction, translation, iron ion transport, cell redox and homeostasis, as well as related pathways in metabolism and diseases. Furthermore, as there are currently no biomarker genes available for predicting arsenic exposure, we took the advantage of RNA sequencing platform to identify most suitable biomarker genes from top responsive genes to arsenic exposure. We first validated these top responsive genes by RT-qPCR in zebrafish and then in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) at individual fish level for more robustly responsive genes across different fish species. Overall design: Transcriptome profiling of arsenic-treated sample and control sample were generated by deep sequencing using 3' RNA-SAGE on the SOLiD system.