A proteomic approach to the study of aquatic pollution in a shrimp exposed to crude oil hydrocarbons

Puerto Madryn

Congreso; XLVI Reunión Anual - Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2010

Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones Bioquímicas

In order to mimic the biological effects of a freshwater oil spill, we examined the differential protein expression as potential biomarker in the freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium borellii experimentally exposed to the water soluble fraction (WSF) of crude oil (mostly a mixture of low-boiling aromatics which closely resembles the aromatic hydrocarbon of diesel oil fuel). To this aim, midgut gland proteome was studied by proteomic analysis. Protein mixtures were extracted from shrimps exposed for 7 days to a subletal concentration of WSF (0.34 ppm). Midgut gland from non exposed shrimp was used as control. Protein extracts were subsequently subject to 2D gel electrophoresis and spots from sample and control gels compared to identify differentially-expressed proteins. Spots were punched out of the gel and analyzed by ESI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Identity assigned in a MASCOT search mined against all known proteins. Exposure to pollutants revealed the presence of several proteins over- and underexpressed. The transcription levels of genes from a subset of the identified proteins were then analyzed by real-time PCR. The analysis of differentially expressed proteins in shrimp exposed to hydrocarbon provided a new insight in the identification of potential biomarkers highlighting the usefulness of employing 2DE-based proteomic approach to aquatic pollution studies.