PNNL

Abstract

Determining how gene expression profiles change with toxicant dose will improve the utility of arrays in identifying biomarkers and modes of toxic action. We exposed isogenic rainbow trout, Onorhyncus mykiss, to 10, 50 or 100 ng/L ethynylestradiol (a xeno-estrogen) for 7 days. Following exposure, fish were euthanized, livers harvested and RNA extracted. Fluorescently labeled cDNA were generated and hybridized against a commercially available Atlantic Salmon / Trout array (GRASP project, University of Victoria) spotted with 16,000 cDNA’s. The slides were scanned to measure abundance of a given transcript in each sample relative to controls. Data were analyzed via Genespring (Silicon Genetics) to identify genes with altered expression, as well as to determine gene clustering patterns that can be used as “expression signatures”. Array results were confirmed via qRT PCR. Our analysis indicates that gene expression profiles varied somewhat with dose. Established biomarkers of exposure to estrogenic chemicals, such as vitellogenin, vitelline envelope proteins, and the estrogen receptor alpha, were induced at every dose. Other genes were dose specific, suggesting that different doses induce distinct physiological responses. These findings demonstrate that cDNA microarrays could be used to identify both toxicant class and relative dose.