Influence of Dissolved Organic Carbon on the Acute Toxicity of Copper and Zinc to White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and a Cladoceran (Ceriodaphnia dubia).

We conducted acute lethality tests with white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and Ceriodaphnia dubia exposed to copper and zinc at dissolved organic carbon concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 5.5 mg/L. Dissolved organic carbon had minimal effects on zinc toxicity but did have a protective effect on acute copper toxicity, which was equal to that predicted by the copper biotic ligand model (BLM). The BLM-adjusted copper median effect concentrations for A. transmontanus ranged from 2.4 to 8.2 mg/L. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2682-2687. Published 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC. This article is a US government work, and as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.

Nanoinformatics workshop report: Current resources, community needs, and the proposal of a collaborative framework for data sharing and information integration.

The quantity of information on nanomaterial properties and behavior continues to grow rapidly. Without a concerted effort to collect, organize and mine disparate information coming out of current research efforts, the value and effective use of this information will be limited at best. Data will not be translated to knowledge. At worst, erroneous conclusions will be drawn and future research may be misdirected. Nanoinformatics can be a powerful approach to enhance the value of global information in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Much progress has been made through grassroots efforts in nanoinformatics resulting in a multitude of resources and tools for nanoscience researchers. In 2012, the nanoinformatics community believed it was important to critically evaluate and refine currently available nanoinformatics approaches in order to best inform the science and support the future of predictive nanotechnology. The Greener Nano 2012: Nanoinformatics Tools and Resources Workshop brought together informatics groups with materials scientists active in nanoscience research to evaluate and reflect on the tools and resources that have recently emerged in support of predictive nanotechnology. The workshop goals were to establish a better understanding of current nanoinformatics approaches and to clearly define immediate and projected informatics infrastructure needs of the nanotechnology community. The theme of nanotechnology environmental health and safety (nanoEHS) was used to provide real-world, concrete examples on how informatics can be utilized to advance our knowledge and guide nanoscience. The benefit here is that the same properties that impact the performance of products could also be the properties that inform EHS. From a decision management standpoint, the dual use of such data should be considered a priority. Key outcomes include a proposed collaborative framework for data collection, data sharing and information integration.

Gene expression profiles in fathead minnow exposed to 2,4-DNT: correlation with toxicity in mammals.

Toxicogenomics, the genome-wide analysis of gene expression to study the effect of toxicants, has great potential for use in environmental toxicology. Applied to standard test organisms, it has possible applications in aquatic toxicology as a sensitive monitoring tool to detect the presence of contaminants while providing information on the mechanisms of action of these pollutants. We describe the use of a complementary DNA (cDNA) microarray of the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) a standard sentinel organism in aquatic toxicology, to better understand the mechanisms of toxicity of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) which is released in the environment through military and industrial use. We have constructed a fathead minnow microarray containing 5000 randomly picked anonymous cDNAs from a whole fish cDNA library. Expression profiles were analyzed in fish exposed to 2,4-DNT for 10 days at three concentrations (11, 22, and 44 microM, respectively) below the measured median lethal concentration (58 microM). Sequence analysis of cDNAs corresponding to differentially expressed genes affected by exposure revealed that lipid metabolism and oxygen transport genes were prominently affected in a dose-specific manner. We measured liver lipids and demonstrate that lipid metabolism is indeed perturbed following exposure. These observations correlate well with available toxicological data on 2,4-DNT. We present possible modes of action of 2,4-DNT toxicity and suggest that fathead minnow cDNA microarrays can be useful to identify mechanisms of toxicity in fish and as a predictive tool for toxicity in mammals.