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Metabolomic Approaches for Characterizing Aquatic Ecosystems
Citation:
Collette, Tim, G. Ankley, E. Durhan, K. Jensen, M. Kahl, K. Lee, L. Makynen, D. Skelton, L. Thomas, Q. Teng, A. Trowbridge, D. Villeneuve, AND D. Ekman. Metabolomic Approaches for Characterizing Aquatic Ecosystems. Presented at SETAC North America 33rd Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA, November 11 - 15, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation for SETAC North America 33rd Annual Meeting, 11/11/2012 to 11/15/2012.
Description:
Metabolomics is becoming a well-established tool for studying how organisms, such as fish, respond to various stressors. For example, the literature is rich with laboratory studies involving analysis of samples from organisms exposed to individual chemical toxicants. These studies have demonstrated the ability to rapidly screen and prioritize chemicals for adverse effects, and to determine mode-of-action-specific exposure biomarkers. In addition, there has been promising laboratory work with metabolomics for characterizing an organism’s compensation and recovery from toxic effects, and for defining the complex temporal nature of response to stressors. Our group has recently leveraged information gained from these laboratory studies in order to use metabolomics for biological-based exposure monitoring in Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs), using field-deployed caged fish. One promising outcome of this work has been recognition of the potential to correlate adverse outcomes (as measured by metabolomics) with individual stressors that occur in the AOCs. For example, with this approach, information from metabolomics may contribute to the weight of evidence that a particular chemical contaminant (or class of contaminants) is causing a particular Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) within an AOC. Information of this type could be very valuable for designing effective remediation strategies. In addition, metabolomics has emerged as an ideal candidate tool for characterizing recovery trends in fish and other organisms, suggesting its use in log term biological-based monitoring studies over the course of restoration activities. As such, metabolomics may provide critical information in ongoing efforts to eliminate BUIs and to delist AOCs. Results from preliminary studies that illustrate the potential for these applications will be presented.
