Curriculum Guidelines for Graduate and Undergraduate Virology Courses.

Curriculum guidelines for virology are needed to best guide student learning due to the continuous and ever-increasing volume of virology information, the need to ensure that undergraduate and graduate students have a foundational understanding of key virology concepts, and the importance in being able to communicate that understanding to both other virologists and nonvirologists. Such guidelines, developed by virology educators and the American Society for Virology Education and Career Development Committee, are described herein.

Detection of benz[j]aceanthrylene in urban air and evaluation of its genotoxic potential.

Benz[j]aceanthrylene (B[j]A) is a cyclopenta-fused polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with strong mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. We have identified B[j]A in air particulate matter (PM) in samples collected in Stockholm, Sweden and in Limeira, Brazil using LC-GC/MS analysis. Determined concentrations ranged between 1.57 and 12.7 and 19.6-30.2 pg/m(3) in Stockholm and Limeira, respectively, which was 11-30 times less than benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) concentrations. Activation of the DNA damage response was evaluated after exposure to B[j]A in HepG2 cells in comparison to B[a]P. We found that significantly lower concentrations of B[j]A were needed for an effect on cell viability compared to B[a]P, and equimolar exposure resulted in significant more DNA damage with B[j]A. Additionally, levels of γH2AX, pChk1, p53, pp53, and p21 proteins were higher in response to B[j]A than B[a]P. On the basis of dose response induction of pChk1 and γH2AX, B[j]A potency was 12.5- and 33.3-fold higher than B[a]P, respectively. Although B[j]A levels in air were low, including B[j]A in the estimation of excess lifetime cancer risk increased the risk up to 2-fold depending on which potency factor for B[j]A was applied. Together, our results show that B[j]A could be an important contributor to the cancer risk of air PM.

Mutagenicity of the Danube River: The contribution of liquid phase and particulate suspended matter.

Bioassays have been used to complement the chemical characterization of aquatic mutagenicity, but the tests sometimes are done only with water liquid phase (LP). Particle-bound mutagens are important because they can be ingested by filtering organisms. Our objective was to evaluate the mutagenicity of organic extracts of the LP and the water suspended particulate matter (SPM) from 13 sites along Danube River with the Salmonella/microsome microsuspension assay using TA98, YG1041, TA1538, and YG5185 strains. A high incidence of mutagenicity was detected, 84% for LP and 92% for SPM samples. The contribution of SPM to the mutagenicity was relatively small when compared with LP however, for five sites SPM was responsible for the whole mutagenicity, highlighting the importance of analyzing SPM when assessing water mutagenicity. YG1041 was the most sensitive strain and should be considered in future water mutagenicity monitoring programs, but it will depend on the main pollution sources.

A promising Ames battery for mutagenicity characterization of new dyes.

When testing new products, potential new products, or their impurities for genotoxicity in the Ames test, the quantity available for testing can be a limiting factor. This is the case for a dye repository of around 98,000 substances the Max Weaver Dye Library (MWDL). Mutagenicity data on dyes in the literature, although vast, in several cases is not reliable, compromising the performance of the in silico models. In this report, we propose a strategy for the generation of high-quality mutagenicity data for dyes using a minimum amount of sample. We evaluated 15 dyes from different chemical classes selected from 150 representative dyes of the MWDL. The purity and molecular confirmation of each dye were determined, and the microplate agar protocol (MPA) was used. Dyes were tested at the limit of solubility in single and concentration-response experiments using seven strains without and with metabolic activation except for anthraquinone dyes which were tested with eight strains. Six dyes were mutagenic. The most sensitive was YG1041, followed by TA97a > TA98 > TA100 = TA1538 > TA102. YG7108 as well as TA1537 did not detect any mutagenic response. We concluded that the MPA was successful in identifying the mutagenicity of dyes using less than 12.5 mg of sample. We propose that dyes should be tested in a tiered approach using YG1041 followed by TA97a, TA98, and TA100 in concentration-response experiments. This work provides additional information on the dye mutagenicity database available in the literature.

Miniaturization of the microsuspension Salmonella/microsome assay in agar microplates.

The Salmonella/microsome assay (Ames test) is the most widely used mutagenicity test for the evaluation of pure chemicals and environmental samples. There are several versions of protocols available in the literature, including those that reduce the amount of sample needed for testing with liquid and agar media. The microsuspension version of the Salmonella/microsome assay is more sensitive than the standard protocol. It is performed using 5-times concentrated bacteria and less sample and S9 mixture, but still uses conventional Petri dishes (90 × 15 mm). It has been extensively used for environmental sample testing, including in effect-directed analysis (EDA). The objective of this study was to miniaturize the microsuspension assay using 12-well microplates instead of the conventional plates. For validation of this miniaturization, thirteen mutagenic compounds were tested using three Salmonella strains that were selected based on their different spontaneous reversion frequencies (low, medium, and high). The conditions of the miniaturized procedure were made as similar as possible to the microsuspension protocol, using the same testing design, metabolic activation, and data interpretation, and the tests were conducted in parallel. The miniaturized plate assay (MPA) and microsuspension procedures provided similar sensitivities although MPA is less laborious and require less sample and reagents, thereby reducing overall costs. We conclude that the MPA is a promising tool and can be particularly suitable for environmental studies such as EDA or monitoring programs. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 59:488-501, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development of a bioanalytical test battery for water quality monitoring: Fingerprinting identified micropollutants and their contribution to effects in surface water.

Surface waters can contain a diverse range of organic pollutants, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals and industrial compounds. While bioassays have been used for water quality monitoring, there is limited knowledge regarding the effects of individual micropollutants and their relationship to the overall mixture effect in water samples. In this study, a battery of in vitro bioassays based on human and fish cell lines and whole organism assays using bacteria, algae, daphnids and fish embryos was assembled for use in water quality monitoring. The selection of bioassays was guided by the principles of adverse outcome pathways in order to cover relevant steps in toxicity pathways known to be triggered by environmental water samples. The effects of 34 water pollutants, which were selected based on hazard quotients, available environmental quality standards and mode of action information, were fingerprinted in the bioassay test battery. There was a relatively good agreement between the experimental results and available literature effect data. The majority of the chemicals were active in the assays indicative of apical effects, while fewer chemicals had a response in the specific reporter gene assays, but these effects were typically triggered at lower concentrations. The single chemical effect data were used to improve published mixture toxicity modeling of water samples from the Danube River. While there was a slight increase in the fraction of the bioanalytical equivalents explained for the Danube River samples, for some endpoints less than 1% of the observed effect could be explained by the studied chemicals. The new mixture models essentially confirmed previous findings from many studies monitoring water quality using both chemical analysis and bioanalytical tools. In short, our results indicate that many more chemicals contribute to the biological effect than those that are typically quantified by chemical monitoring programs or those regulated by environmental quality standards. This study not only demonstrates the utility of fingerprinting single chemicals for an improved understanding of the biological effect of pollutants, but also highlights the need to apply bioassays for water quality monitoring in order to prevent underestimation of the overall biological effect.

Mutagenicity profile of atmospheric particulate matter in a small urban center subjected to airborne emission from vehicle traffic and sugar cane burning.

Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is genotoxic and recently was classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. PM chemical composition varies depending on source and atmospheric conditions. The Salmonella/microsome assay is the most used mutagenicity test and can identify the major chemical classes responsible for observed mutagenicity. The objective of this work was to characterize the mutagenicity of PM samples from a countryside city, Limeira, Brazil, which is influenced by heavy traffic and sugar cane biomass burning. Six samples of total PM were collected. Air mass backward trajectories were calculated. Organic extracts were assayed using the Salmonella/microsome microsuspension mutagenicity assay using TA98, YG1041, and TA1538, with and without metabolic activation (S9). YG1041 was the most sensitive strain and mutagenicity reached 9,700 revertants per m(3) without metabolic activation. Potency for TA1538 was higher than TA98, indicating that this strain should be considered in air mutagenicity studies. The increased response to YG1041 relative to TA98, and the decreased response with S9, suggests that nitroaromatics are the major contributors. Limeira is among the most mutagenic cities in the world. High mutagenicity in Limeira seems to occur when the air mass from the area of sugarcane production is mixed with air from the region impacted by anthropogenic activities such as traffic. An increase in the formation of nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may result from longer contact time between the aromatic compounds and the atmosphere with high NOx and ozone concentration, although more studies are required to confirm this hypothesis.