Toxicogenomic applications of Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) in aquatic toxicology

Abstract

Rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus), a Chinese native species, are an excellent emerging model organism for aquatic toxicity testing and chemical safety assessment. "Big data" omics approaches (i.e., genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) to inform mechanistic toxicology are now applied to studies in rare minnows to better understand toxicity and molecular pathways perturbed by chemicals. This review highlights recent applications of toxicogenomics to study changes in the gene and protein expression profiles in rare minnows in response to chemicals. Here we briefly describe studies that utilized cDNA microarrays in characterization of the cellular effects of rare minnows in single and mixed chemical exposures. Then we compare gel-based proteomics studies in liver of rare minnows following treatment with endocrine disrupting chemicals including 17β-estradiol, 17α-methyltestosterone, pentachlorophenol, and perfluorooctanoic acid. A total of 90 proteins identified in these studies were functionally annotated and categorized. These responsive proteins have roles in biological processes that include metabolism (37.8%), response to oxidation/chemicals (16.7%), signal transduction (11.1%), transport (10%), cytoskeleton (6.7%) and others (17.8%). In addition, recent investigations of endocrine disrupting effects and neurotoxicity of benzotriazole, an emerging contaminant, are summarized. The objective is to continue to enrich genome and protein databases for this species and to integrate molecular datasets to consider temporal effects and complex regulation at the level of the genome and proteome.

Brain quantitative proteomic responses reveal new insight of benzotriazole neurotoxicity in female Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus)

“…However, the alteration pattern of RhoGDI␣ protein was completely opposite with that of the mRNA. This is consistent with other studies in aquatic toxicology, and the transcript level does not consistently follow the abundance changes of proteins (de Sousa Abreu et al, 2009;Liang and Zha, 2016;Martyniuk et al, 2010). For example, in a study on the proteomic response of fathead minnow to EE2 in the neuroendocrine brain, mRNA levels of microtubule associated protein tau (mapt) were decreased while the protein abundance was increased (Martyniuk et al, 2010).…”

Developmental toxicity and thyroid hormone-disrupting effects of 2,4-dichloro-6-nitrophenol in Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus)

“…From fertilization to hatching, the embryonic developmental period of Chinese rare minnow lasts for 72 h at 26 • C. The duration of postembryonic developmental period is 30 days, during which time Chinese rare minnows grow uniformly with a growth rate of 0.52 mm per day. Four months after hatch, Chinese rare minnow could attain sexual maturity (Liang and Zha, 2016). In previous studies, Chinese rare minnows were used as a model to evaluate the endocrine disruption effects of environmental pollutants such as 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (Li et al, 2009) and benzotriazole (Liang et al, 2014).…”

Bid-deficient fish delay grass carp reovirus (GCRV) replication and attenuate GCRV-triggered apoptosis

“…Hence, the up-regulation of CiBid, CiCaspase-9, and CiCaspase-3 implied that CiBid contributed to GCRV-induced apoptosis. Since rare minnow is small in size, easy to culture, adaptable to a wide temperature range, and has a relatively short life cycle, it was considered as an emerging model in fish biology [6]. Moreover, similar with grass carp, rare minnow is much more vulnerable to GCRV.…”

“…The rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus), a Chinese native species belonging to the family Cyprinidae, could be infected by GCRV, resulting in an up to 100% mortality rate [5]. Moreover, due to its propagational biological characteristics, rare minnow has the potential to be used as a model fish in aquatic toxicity testing, chemical safety assessment, and virus-resistant breeding [6].…”