Modeling the metabolic profile of Mytilus edulis reveals molecular signatures linked to gonadal development, sex and environmental site

Ioanna Katsiadaki,Mark R. Viant,Jeroen Jansen,John Bignell,Jonathan J. Byrne,Philipp Antczak,Jaanika Kronberg,Francesco Falciani,Adam Hines

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-90494-y

Abstract

The monitoring of anthropogenic chemicals in the aquatic environment including their potential effects on aquatic organisms, is important for protecting life under water, a key sustainable development goal. In parallel with monitoring the concentrations of chemicals of concern, sentinel species are often used to investigate the biological effects of contaminants. Among these, bivalve molluscs such as mussels are filter-feeding and sessile, hence an excellent model system for measuring localized pollution. This study investigates the relationship between the metabolic state of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) and its physiology in different environments. We developed a computational model based on a reference site (relatively unpolluted) and integrated seasonal dynamics of metabolite relative concentrations with key physiological indicators and environmental parameters. The analysis of the model revealed that changes in metabolite levels during an annual cycle are influenced by water temperature and are linked to gonadal development. This work supports the importance of data-driven biology and its potential in environmental monitoring.

Highlights

The monitoring of anthropogenic chemicals in the aquatic environment including their potential effects on aquatic organisms, is important for protecting life under water, a key sustainable development goal
We first tested the hypothesis that the metabolic state of the mussel mantle changes during the annual cycle, and that such variation reflects sex, reproductive stage and sampling site
Our results show the potential of data-driven systems biology approaches using metabolomics for describing natural annual and reproductive cycles in wild species such as mussels

Summary

Introduction

The monitoring of anthropogenic chemicals in the aquatic environment including their potential effects on aquatic organisms, is important for protecting life under water, a key sustainable development goal. In parallel with monitoring the concentrations of chemicals of concern, sentinel species are often used to investigate the biological effects of contaminants. The MSFD aims to provide and support healthy marine ecosystems by establishing Good Environmental Status as set out by several environmental descriptors including, but not limited to, biological diversity, eutrophication, marine litter and anthropogenic contaminants. Sensitive indicator species are used as sentinels to assess ecosystem health through the use of biomarkers, providing additional information on the biological effects of environmental pollutants[2]. While most ‘omics’ studies have relied on gene expression profiling, other omics technologies, such as metabolomics[13,41,42,43,44] and proteomics[45,46,47] have been used and may provide a strongly phenotype-oriented view of the animal that aligns well with the objective of environmental effects monitoring

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion