3rd UF Water Institute Symposium Abstract

Submitter's Name	Ignacio Rodriguez-Jorquera
Session Name	Posters - Nutrient dynamics and enrichment impacts in aquatic ecosystems 2
Category	Nutrient dynamics and enrichment impacts in aquatic ecosystems
Poster Number	42
Author(s)	Ignacio Rodriguez,  Interdisciplinary Ecology Program, School of Natural Resources and Environment, Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida. (Presenting Author)
	Kevin Kroll,  Department of Physiological Sciences & Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
	Gurpal Toor, Soil & Water Quality Laboratory, Gulf Coast Research & Education Center, Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
	Nancy Denslow, Department of Physiological Sciences & Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
	LINKAGES BETWEEN POLLUTANTS AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN FISH EXPOSED TO URBAN EFFLUENTS.
	Urban effluents may contain mixtures of pollutants that can be toxic to fish. As fish can be used as indicators to determine the effect of water pollution on other vertebrates, information about pollutants toxic effects on fish can be helpful to protect water resources. The fact that toxicity is preceded by gene expression alteration allows the use of approaches like microarrays to early detection of toxic effects. Here, we show the gene expression profiles of male fathead minnow liver, exposed to three typical urban effluents from Gainesville, Florida: surface water collected from downstream of a wastewater treatment plant (streamwater), a wastewater treatment plant effluent used for landscape irrigation (wastewater), and a lake (stormwater). These waters were collected and used as whole effluents in a 48-hour exposure study. Microarray analysis was used to assess changes in gene expression for exposed fish, historic and present analytical chemistry data were used to make links with observed effects. The statistical significant differences in gene expression from fish exposed to effluents were compared to controls by using LOESS normalization and ANOVA p ≤ 0.05. Results showed that out of 16,000 genes analyzed , 588 genes were altered in fish exposed to streamwater compared with 800 genes in stormwater and 384 genes in wastewater exposed fish. A total of 9-11 biological processes were affected in fish exposed to these effluent. The major processes affected were biosynthetic and liver development in streamwater , electron transport and protein phosphorylation in stormwater, and carbohydrate metabolic process and regulation of apoptosis in wastewater exposed fish. Fish exposed to both streamwater and stormwater also showed lipid metabolism process altered. The microarray results suggest that a mixture of pollutants present in these effluents influenced normal physiological responses in fish after only 48-hours of exposure.