Endocrine disruption and oxidative stress in larvae of Chironomus dilutus following short-term exposure to fresh or aged oil sands process-affected water.

Understanding the toxicity of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) is a significant issue associated with the production of oil from the Alberta oil sands. OSPW is acutely and chronically toxic to organisms, including larvae of Chironomus dilutus. In this study, fresh OSPW ('WIP-OSPW') was collected from the West In-Pit settling pond and aged OSPW ('FE5-OSPW') was collected from the FE5 experimental reclamation pond, both of which are located on the Syncrude Canada Ltd. lease site near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Larvae of C. dilutus were exposed to a freshwater control, WIP-OSPW, or FE5-OSPW for 4 or 7 days and survival, growth, and markers of oxidative stress and endocrine disruption were assessed. Survival was not significantly different among treatment groups. Compared to masses of larvae exposed to freshwater, masses of larvae exposed to WIP-OSPW were 49% lesser on day 4 and 62% lesser on day 7. However, organisms exposed to FE5-OSPW did not have significantly lesser masses than controls. Abundances of transcripts of glutathione-s-transferase (gst), catalase (cat), and glutathione peroxidase (gpx), which are important for the response to oxidative stress, were significantly altered in larvae exposed to WIP-OSPW, but not FE5-OSPW, relative to controls. Peroxidation of lipids was greater in larvae exposed to WIP-OSPW, but not FE5-OSPW. Exposure to fresh OSPW might have caused endocrine disruption because abundances of transcripts of the steroid hormone receptors, ultraspiricle protein (usp), ecysteroid receptor (esr), and estrogen related receptor (err) were greater in larvae exposed to WIP-OSPW for 7 days, but not FE5-OSPW. These results suggest that lesser growth of larvae of C. dilutus exposed to fresh OSPW might be due to oxidative stress and disruption of endocrine processes, and that aging of OSPW attenuates these adverse effects.

Effectiveness of ozonation treatment in eliminating toxicity of oil sands process-affected water to Chironomus dilutus.

Water soluble organic compounds (OCs), including naphthenic acids (NAs), are potentially toxic constituents of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) that is generated during extraction of bitumen from Alberta oil sands. Ozonation can decrease concentrations of OCs in OSPW. However, effects of ozonated-OSPW on multicellular organisms are unknown. A 10-day and a chronic exposure of Chironomus dilutus to OSPW were conducted to assess effects on survival, growth, development, and behavior. Two separate batches of OSPW were treated with 30 or 80 mg ozone (O(3))/L. Wet body masses of larvae exposed to OSPW were 64 to 77% less than their respective controls (p < 0.001). However, both levels of ozonation significantly attenuated effects of OSPW on growth. Similarly, chronic exposure to untreated OSPW resulted in significantly less pupation than in the controls, with 31% and 71% less pupation of larvae exposed to the two batches of OSPW (p < 0.05). Emergence was significantly less for larvae exposed to OSPW, with 13% and 8% of larvae emerging, compared to 81% in controls (p < 0.0001). Both levels of ozonation of OSPW attenuated effects on emergence. These results suggest that OCs degraded by ozonation causes toxicity of OSPW toward C. dilutus, and that ozonation attenuates toxicity of OSPW.

Ethylene induces antifreeze activity in winter rye leaves.

Antifreeze activity is induced by cold temperatures in winter rye (Secale cereale) leaves. The activity arises from six antifreeze proteins that accumulate in the apoplast of winter rye leaves during cold acclimation. The individual antifreeze proteins are similar to pathogenesis-related proteins, including glucanases, chitinases, and thaumatin-like proteins. The objective of this study was to study the regulation of antifreeze activity in response to ethylene and salicyclic acid, which are known regulators of pathogenesis-related proteins induced by pathogens. Nonacclimated plants treated with salicylic acid accumulated apoplastic proteins with no antifreeze activity. In contrast, when nonacclimated plants were exposed to ethylene, both antifreeze activity and the concentration of apoplastic protein increased in rye leaves. Immunoblotting revealed that six of the seven accumulated apoplastic proteins consisted of two glucanases, two chitinases, and two thaumatin-like proteins. The ethylene-releasing agent ethephon and the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate also induced high levels of antifreeze activity at 20 degrees C, and this effect could be blocked by the ethylene inhibitor AgNO(3). When intact rye plants were exposed to 5 degrees C, endogenous ethylene production and antifreeze activity were detected within 12 and 48 h of exposure to cold, respectively. Rye plants exposed to drought produced both ethylene and antifreeze activity within 24 h. We conclude that ethylene is involved in regulating antifreeze activity in winter rye in response to cold and drought.

Chitinase genes responsive to cold encode antifreeze proteins in winter cereals.

Antifreeze proteins similar to two different chitinases accumulate during cold acclimation in winter rye (Secale cereale). To determine whether these cold-responsive chitinases require post-translational modification to bind to ice, cDNAs coding for two different full-length chitinases were isolated from a cDNA library produced from cold-acclimated winter rye leaves. CHT9 is a 1,193-bp clone that encodes a 31.7-kD class I chitinase and CHT46 is a 998-bp clone that codes for a 24.8-kD class II chitinase. Chitinase-antifreeze proteins purified from the plant were similar in mass to the predicted mature products of CHT9 and CHT46, thus indicating that there was little chemical modification of the amino acid sequences in planta. To confirm these results, the mature sequences of CHT9 and CHT46 were expressed in Escherichia coli and the products of both cDNAs modified the growth of ice. Transcripts of both genes accumulated late in cold acclimation in winter rye. Southern analysis of winter rye genomic DNA indicated the presence of a small gene family homologous to CHT46. In hexaploid wheat, CHT46 homologs mapped to the homeologous group 1 chromosomes and were expressed in response to cold and drought. We conclude that two novel cold-responsive genes encoding chitinases with ice-binding activity may have arisen in winter rye and other cereals through gene duplication.