Single cell gel electrophoresis as a tool to assess genetic damage in Heleobia cf. australis (Mollusca: Gastropoda) as sentinel for industrial and domestic pollution in Montevideo bay (Uruguay)

Abstract

The knowledge of the extent of DNA damage in aquatic organisms in polluted areas is an important issue because contamination may alter their health at sublethal levels. Although molluscs have been widely used to monitor water pollution, there are no records of in vivo genotoxicity studies. Heleobia cf. australis, is distributed in almost all Uruguayan coastal ecosystems, including highly polluted sites. The comet assay is a damage genetic biomarker based on the migration of negatively charged DNA fragments produced by mutagenic agents in individual cells. Live individuals were collected in the Montevideo Bay (impacted area) and Laguna Garzón (control) to analyze the presence of mutagenic agents in the former site through comet assay. Cells from organisms of the impacted area showed significantly higher levels of genetic damage than those obtained in the control population, measured by percentage of DNA in the tail. Although preliminary, this approach supports the idea that H. cf. australis could be used as a sentinel to evaluate the presence of mutagenic agents in estuarine environments, alerting to the impact of contamination in its early stages.

How mollusk assemblages respond to different urbanization levels: characterization of the malacofauna in subtropical Brazilian mangroves

“…Muniz and Venturini (2005) and Muniz et al (2011) noted that Heleobia is resistant to organicenriched and oxygen-depleted environments. In addition, it is known that some Heleobia species show high dominance in impacted environments and are used as sentinels to evaluate the presence of mutagenic agents in estuarine environments (Cannicci et al 2009;Villar et al 2011). Based on these studies, we can assume that Heleobia species can resist several anthropological impacts, and as opportunistic species, they occupy niches that are available after other species were not able to resist a particular impact.…”

Variação espaço-temporal da comunidade bentônica do rio Itajaí-Mirim, Itajaí (SC), nos canais original e retificado

“…Entre estes, destaca-se o molusco Heleobia australis (d'Orbigny, 1835) que, segundo Mattos & Almeida (2016), pode representar 90% da fauna encontrada no rio Itajaí-Açu, curso fluvial que faz confluência com o rio Itajaí-Mirim. Esta espécie é considerada oportunista e frequentemente utilizada como bioindicadora de impactos antrópicos em áreas estuarinas (Villar et al, 2015).…”