The toxicity of selenium and mercury in Suaeda salsa after 7-days exposure.

Mercury is one of the major pollutants in the ocean, selenium causes toxicity beyond a certain limit, but there are few comparative toxic studies between them in halophytes. The study was to investigate the toxic effects of selenium (Se4+) and mercury (Hg2+) in halophyte Suaeda salsa at the level of genes, proteins and metabolites after exposure for 7 days. By integrating the results of proteomics and metabolomics, the pathway changed under different treatments were revealed. In Se4+-treated group, the changed 3 proteins and 10 metabolites participated in the process of substance metabolism (amino acid, pyrimidine), citrate cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, photosynthesis, energy, and protein biosynthesis. In Hg2+-treated group, the changed 10 proteins and 10 metabolites were related to photosynthesis, glycolysis, substance metabolism (cysteine and methionine, amino acid, pyrimidine), ATP synthesis and binding, tolerance, sugar-phosphatase activity, and citrate cycle. In Se4++ Hg2+-treated group, the changed 5 proteins an 12 metabolites involved in stress defence, iron ion binding, mitochondrial respiratory chain, structural constituent of ribosome, citrate cycle, and amino acid metabolism. Furthermore, the separate and combined selenium and mercury both inhibited growth of S. salsa, enhanced activity of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and catalase), and disturbed osmotic regulation through the genes of choline monoxygenase and betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase. Our experiments also showed selenium could induce synergistic effects in S. salsa. In all, we successfully characterized the effects of selenium and mercury in plant which was helpful to evaluate the toxicity and interaction of marine pollutants.

Differential response of two ferritin subunit genes (VpFer1 and VpFer2) from Venerupis philippinarum following pathogen and heavy metals challenge.

As a principal extracellular iron storage molecule, ferritin plays an important role in the iron-withholding strategy of innate immunity and detoxification system. In this study, we cloned and characterized another ferritin from Venerupis philippinarum (designated as VpFer2), in addition to one previously reported (VpFer1). VpFer2 possessed all the conserved features critical for the fundamental structure and function of ferritin H subunit. VpFer1 and VpFer2 mRNA were both found to be most abundantly expressed in hepatopancreas. Vibrio challenge could significantly up-regulate the mRNA expression of VpFers, and VpFer2 showed more sensitive to Vibrio anguillarum infection. For heavy metals exposure, the expression level of VpFer1 was significantly induced by Cd at 48 h, but kept relatively constant after exposure to Cu. With regards to VpFer2, the expression level dropped significantly at 24 h, then began to increase to the peak value at 48 h under Cd exposure, while Cu exposure constantly depressed the expression level of VpFer2 throughout the time course. Similarly, VpFer2 seemed to be more sensitive to heavy metals exposure than VpFer1 as its mRNA level changed by higher magnitudes. All these results suggested that VpFers may be important proteins involved in host immune defense and heavy metals detoxification. The diverse expression patterns of VpFers demonstrated that VpFer2 was an early and sensitive responder to environmental stress in V. philippinarum.

Transcriptional regulation of selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase from Venerupis philippinarum in response to pathogen and contaminants challenge.

Glutathione peroxidases (GPx) are key enzymes in the antioxidant systems of living organisms by catalyzing the reduction of peroxides to non-reactive products. In the present study, the full-length cDNA encoding a selenium-dependent GPx was identified from Venerupis philippinarum (designated as VpSe-GPx), and the spatial and temporal expression patterns post-Vibrio anguillarum, heavy metals and benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) challenge were also investigated. VpSe-GPx possessed all the conserved features critical for the fundamental structure and function of glutathione peroxidase. The VpSe-GPx mRNA was found to be most abundantly expressed in hepatopancreas. Vibrio challenge could significantly up-regulate the mRNA expression of VpSe-GPx, and the highest expression level was detected at 24 h post-infection with 6.5-fold increase compared with that in the control group. For heavy metals exposure, the expression of VpSe-GPx was significantly induced by 20, 40 µg L(-1) Cd and 10, 20 µg L(-1) Cu but depressed by 10 µg L(-1) Cd and 40 µg L(-1) Cu. With regards to B[a]P exposure, the expression of VpSe-GPx mRNA was significantly induced at 48 and 96 h post challenge. All these results suggested that VpSe-GPx was potentially involved in mediating the immune response and antioxidant defense in V. Philippinarum.

Responses of thioredoxin 1 and thioredoxin-related protein 14 mRNAs to cadmium and copper stresses in Venerupis philippinarum.

Thioredoxin (abbreviated as Trx) is an important ubiquitous disulfide reductase, which can protect organisms against various oxidative stresses. In the present study, thioredoxin 1 (named as VpTrx1) and thioredoxin-related protein (named as VpTrp14) were identified from Venerupis philippinarum, respectively. Similar to most Trx1s, VpTrx1 possessed all conserved features critical for the fundamental structure and function of Trx1s, such as the conserved catalytic residues (C-G-P-C), but lacked the other cysteine residues, while VpTrp14 contained the conserved motif (C-P-D-C). Quantitative Real-time PCR assay showed that VpTrx1 and VpTrp14 transcripts were distributed in a wide array of tissues most abundantly expressed in the hepatopancreas. The expression of VpTrp14 mRNA in the hepatopancreas was significantly up-regulated after exposure to 10 and 40µg/L Cd, while the VpTrx1 expression level was kept relatively constant. Both the expression levels of VpTrx1 and VpTrp14 in the hepatopancreas were induced after exposure to Cu, and increased to the peak value at 96h under the 40µg/L Cu exposure. These results showed that VpTrp14 transcripts responded to metal stress more acutely than VpTrx1, and both Trxs responded to Cu stress more sensitively than Cd. Together, it was suggested that VpTrx1 and VpTrp14 perhaps played important roles in the antioxidant responses against metal stress in V. philippinarum.