Cadmium in vivo exposure alters stress response and endocrine-related genes in the freshwater snail Physa acuta. New biomarker genes in a new model organism

Abstract

The freshwater snail Physa acuta is a sensitive organism to xenobiotics that is appropriate for toxicity testing. Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal with known toxic effects on several organisms, which include endocrine disruption and activation of the cellular stress responses. There is scarce genomic information on P. acuta; hence, in this work, we identify several genes related to the hormonal system, the stress response and the detoxification system to evaluate the effects of Cd. The transcriptional activity of the endocrine-related genes oestrogen receptor (ER), oestrogen-related receptor (ERR), and retinoid X receptor (RXR), the heat shock proteins genes hsp70 and hsp90 and a metallothionein (MT) gene was analysed in P. acuta exposed to Cd. In addition, the hsp70 and hsp90 genes were also evaluated after heat shock treatment. Real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that Cd presence induced a significant increase in the mRNA levels of ER, ERR and RXR, suggesting a putative mode of action that could explain the endocrine disruptor activity of this heavy metal at the molecular level on Gastropoda. Moreover, the hsp70 gene was upregulated after 24-h Cd treatment, but the hsp90 gene expression was not affected. In contrast, the hsp70 and hsp90 genes were strongly upregulated during heat shock response. Finally, the MT gene expression showed a non-significant variability after Cd exposure. In conclusion, this study provides, for the first time, information about the effects of Cd on the endocrine system of Gastropoda at the molecular level and offers new putative biomarker genes that could be useful in ecotoxicological studies, risk assessment and bioremediation.