Toxicity of the aquatic herbicide, reward®, on the fathead minnow with pulsed-exposure proteomic profile

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to assess the lethal and sub-lethal effects of the aquatic herbicide commercial formulation, Reward® (373 g/L DB), using application scenarios prescribed by the manufacturer. Specifically, a 14 d period between applications of Reward® in a water body undergoing treatment is required, yet the effects of these ‘pulse’ exposure scenarios on aquatic wildlife such as fish are unknown. In the first experiment early life stage FHM were exposed to a continuous DB concentrations from 0.105–12.6 mg/L which yielded a larval 7 d LC50 of 2.04 mg/L as well as a significant decrease in body mass (25.0 ± 11.6%) at the 1.18 mg/L Reward® concentration. In a second experiment, FHM larvae were exposed for 24 h and then reared in clean water for 14 d followed by a second 24 h exposure to Reward®. The 16 d LC50 value was 4.19 mg/L. In a third experiment, adult FHM were exposed in a pulse/discontinuous manner to Reward® with a calculated 21 d LC50 value of 6.71 mg/L. No significant changes in gonadosomatic index or fecundity of the F1 generation's hatch success were found when eggs from exposed adults were then reared in clean water. Proteome analyses of whole FHM larvae from the discontinuous/pulse exposure showed the primary gene ontology molecular functions of the proteins in fish exposed to 3.78 mg/L DB that resulted in ~30% mortality with positive or negative differential abundance (p-value < .2) were: structural molecule activity; identical protein binding; structural constituent of cytoskeleton; ion binding; calcium ion binding; cytoskeletal protein binding; actin binding; and, ATP binding. These findings suggest that concentrations causing adverse effects occur above the maximum concentration predicted by the manufacturer when applied according to the label (i.e. >0.37 mg/L).