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EFFECTS OF DIOXIN-LIKE COMPOUND CONTAMINATION ON AN ESTUARINE FISH SPECIES: ADAPTIVE CHANGES AT SPECIFIC GENETIC LOCI
Citation:
Cohen, S. AND D E. Nacci. EFFECTS OF DIOXIN-LIKE COMPOUND CONTAMINATION ON AN ESTUARINE FISH SPECIES: ADAPTIVE CHANGES AT SPECIFIC GENETIC LOCI. Presented at Human Health and Environmental Effects of Agent Orange/Dioxins, Hanoi, VN, March 6, 2002.
Description:
Fish from a highly PCB-contaminated Superfund site (New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA) that show genetically-based tolerance to DLCs (Nacci, D. et al. 1999. Mar.Biol.134: 9-17) also have altered MHC Class II antigen-binding receptor profiles compared to a population of fish from a clean site. Bacterial laboratory challenge assays suggest DLC-adapted but highly contaminated fish are not immunocompromised, although they have odd parasite assemblages compared to fish from clean sites. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR1), a locus that mediates DLC toxicity, also shows significant inter-population genetic variation in single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), resulting in amino acid substitutions in the transcriptional control region. We are developing a SNP detection system for this locus to facilitate large sample surveys to test relationships between environmental exposure and genetic variation. A simple genetic assay for populations adapted to DLCs will be a useful tool to assess the evolutionary impacts of chronic contaminant exposure to aquatic and wildlife populations.