Screening of potentially hormonally active chemicals using bioluminescent yeast bioreporters.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae bioluminescent bioreporter assays were developed previously to assess a chemical's estrogenic or androgenic disrupting potential. S. cerevisiae BLYES, S. cerevisiae BLYAS, S. cerevisiae BLYR, were used to assess their reproducibility and utility in screening 68, 69, and 71 chemicals for estrogenic, androgenic, and toxic effects, respectively. EC(50) values were 6.3 +/- 2.4 x 10(-10)M (n = 18) and 1.1 +/- 0.5 x 10(-8)M (n = 13) for BLYES and BLYAS, using 17beta-estradiol and 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone over concentration ranges of 2.5 x 10(-12) through 1.0 x 10(-6)M, respectively. Based on analysis of replicate standard curves and comparison to background controls, a set of quantitative rules have been formulated to interpret data and determine if a chemical is potentially hormonally active, toxic, both, or neither. The results demonstrated that these assays are applicable for Tier I chemical screening in Environmental Protection Agency's Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Program as well as for monitoring endocrine-disrupting activity of unknown chemicals in water.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae BLYAS, a new bioluminescent bioreporter for detection of androgenic compounds.

A Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain, capable of autonomous bioluminescence, was engineered to respond to androgenic chemicals. The strain, S. cerevisiae BLYAS, contains the human androgen receptor in the chromosome and was constructed by inserting a series of androgen response elements between divergent yeast promoters GPD and ADH1 on pUTK401 that constitutively expressed luxA and luxB to create pUTK420. Cotransformation of this plasmid with a second plasmid (pUTK404), containing the genes required for aldehyde synthesis (luxCDE) and FMN reduction (frp), yielded a bioluminescent bioreporter responsive to androgenic chemicals. Using dihydrotestosterone (DHT) as a standard, the response time and the 50% effective concentration values were 3 to 4 h and (9.7 +/- 4.6) x 10(-9) M, respectively. The lower limit of detection in response to DHT was 2.5 x 10(-9) M, and in response to testosterone it was 2.5 x 10(-10) M. This strain is suitable for high-throughput screening of chemicals with potential for remote environmental monitoring systems because of the assay speed, sensitivity, and self-containment.

Estrogen content of dairy and swine wastes.

Naturally occurring estrogens in animal wastes may cause negative environmental impacts, yet their abundance in animal waste treatment and storage structures is poorly documented. To better quantify estrogen concentrations in animal wastes, multiple waste samples were collected from treatment and storage structures at dairy and swine facilities and analyzed for concentrations of 17beta-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), and 17alpha-estradiol by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy and by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (E2 only). Mass ratios of each estrogen to the macronutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were also determined. Because manure application rates are typically macronutrient-based, estrogen to macronutrient ratios are proportional to areal mass application rates of estrogen to fields. Swine farrowing waste (from farrowing sows and piglets) had the highest ratios of E2 to macronutrients. Mean ratios in swine farrowing waste were roughly twice those in swine finishing waste (from growing male and nonpregnant female animals) and more than four times higher than those in dairy waste (from lactating cows in various stages of their reproductive cycles); these differences were statistically significant (alpha = 0.05). Estrone followed a similar trend. In contrast, ratios of 17alpha-estradiol to macronutrients were highest in dairy operations. These results can be used to better predict estrogen loading rates on fields receiving swine and dairy wastes.

Abundance of dioxygenase genes similar to Ralstonia sp. strain U2 nagAc is correlated with naphthalene concentrations in coal tar-contaminated freshwater sediments.

We designed a real-time PCR assay able to recognize dioxygenase large-subunit gene sequences with more than 90% similarity to the Ralstonia sp. strain U2 nagAc gene (nagAc-like gene sequences) in order to study the importance of organisms carrying these genes in the biodegradation of naphthalene. Sequencing of PCR products indicated that this real-time PCR assay was specific and able to detect a variety of nagAc-like gene sequences. One to 100 ng of contaminated-sediment total DNA in 25-microl reaction mixtures produced an amplification efficiency of 0.97 without evident PCR inhibition. The assay was applied to surficial freshwater sediment samples obtained in or in close proximity to a coal tar-contaminated Superfund site. Naphthalene concentrations in the analyzed samples varied between 0.18 and 106 mg/kg of dry weight sediment. The assay for nagAc-like sequences indicated the presence of (4.1 +/- 0.7) x 10(3) to (2.9 +/- 0.3) x 10(5) copies of nagAc-like dioxygenase genes per microg of DNA extracted from sediment samples. These values corresponded to (1.2 +/- 0.6) x 10(5) to (5.4 +/- 0.4) x 10(7) copies of this target per g of dry weight sediment when losses of DNA during extraction were taken into account. There was a positive correlation between naphthalene concentrations and nagAc-like gene copies per microgram of DNA (r = 0.89) and per gram of dry weight sediment (r = 0.77). These results provide evidence of the ecological significance of organisms carrying nagAc-like genes in the biodegradation of naphthalene.

In vitro estrogen receptor binding of PCBs: measured activity and detection of hydroxylated metabolites in a recombinant yeast assay.

The estrogenic activities of 17beta-estradiol, biphenyl, chlorinated biphenyls, and Aroclor mixtures 1221, 1242, and 1248 were measured with a modified recombinant yeast estrogen assay (i.e., a Saccharomyces cerevisiae-based lac-Z (beta-galactosidase) reporter assay). Modifications of the assay included the use of glass vials instead of plastic microtiter plates and the addition of the medium and yeast before the test substrate. 14C-labeled compounds were used to follow improvements in the assay procedures. 14C-17beta-estradiol recovery from plastic microtiter plates and glass vials using the standard or the modified procedure was approximately 89%. However, 14C-4-CB (4-chlorobiphenyl) recovery was considerably less, ranging from 3% in plastic microtiter plates using the standard procedure to 26% in vials using the modified procedure. These results suggest that the toxicity of strongly hydrophobic chemicals may be underestimated. Using the modified yeast estrogen assay, full agonist activity was observed for 4-CB, 2,4,6-CB, and 2,5-CB while each of the Aroclor mixtures were only partial agonists. The equivalent EC50 values in ppm were in environmentally relevant concentrations for biphenyl (19 ppm), 4-CB (4.5 ppm), 2,5-CB (21 ppm), 2,4,6-CB (0.8 ppm), Aroclor 1221 (2.9 ppm), Aroclor 1242 (0.65 ppm), and Aroclor 1248 (2.3 ppm). Estrogen receptor binding for the individual PCB congeners was 25- to 650-fold less than the reported estrogen binding for the corresponding hydroxylated PCB metabolite. Gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analysis of yeast extracts indicated that S. cerevisiae hydroxylated the individual PCB congeners in the ppb range. With the exception of biphenyl, the concentration of hydroxylated metabolites obtained from incubation of S. cerevisiae with PCB congeners was consistent with the concentration necessary to elicit a positive estrogen receptor-binding response. This work provides evidence that S. cerevisiae are capable of metabolic transformation of PCBs and that estrogen receptor binding of PCBs is mediated through the hydroxylated metabolite rather than through the direct interaction of the PCB congeners with the estrogen receptor.