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27 th Congress of the new European Society of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Alessandria (Italy) Sept. 59, 2010 Biological effects of climatic changes and pollution: From biomarkers to system biology Session 9: Effects of environment changes and pollution on Artic and Antarctic organisms INVITED LECTURE 1. Effects of environmental changes and pollution on Arctic and Antarctic organisms B.M. Jenssen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway) Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems are threatened by anthropogenic activity at increasing rates. Global warming, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), exploitation of marine resources and petroleum activity are currently the major threats to these fragile ecosystems. Pollution is transported to Polar environments via long-range atmospheric transport, and the rate of global warming has been claimed to be very high in the Arctic. POPs identified in Polar ecosystems originate from the industria- lized and heavily populated areas of the Earth. Many of these POPs have endocrine disrupting properties. They may therefore interfere with physiological adaptations of Polar organisms to their extreme environ- ments and to environmental change. Even though environmental levels of POPs generally are much lower in Polar environments than in the more densely populated areas on Earth, levels of POPs in Polar top-predators are very high. This is due to the biomagnification of these compounds. High levels of POPs have been associated with endocrine disruption in several endemic Arctic top predators. The thyroid and the reproductive hormone systems seem to be particularly susceptible to endocrine disruption. The thyroid hormone system is involved in several physiological processes that are important for evolutionary adaptation and acclimatization to environ- mental changes. Thyroid hormones are also involved in growth and development, and in cognitive and behavioural processes. Even relatively low levels of POPs have been associated with thyroid hormone disruption. Endocrine disruptive effects at the organismal level may cascade up the biological system, resulting in reduced abilities of Polar ecosystems to respond adequately to other anthropogenic environmental changes. doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2010.06.114 ORAL PRESENTATIONS 2. Characterization of new biomarkers from the Antarctic ciliate Euplotes focardii by a transcriptomic approach S. Pucciarelli, R.R. Devaraj, S. Barchetta, Ting Yu, A. La Terza, C. Miceli (University of Camerino, Italy) The stable cold Antarctic coastal seawaters host a rich variety of eukaryotic microbes, a large fraction of which is represented by species of ciliates, in particular Euplotes. Among the Euplotes species isolated from Terra Nova Bay, E. focardii shows strictly psychrophilic and stenothermal phenotypes, including optimal survival and multiplication rates at 45 °C, that denote an ancient colonization of the Antarctic environment. The successful coloni- zation of the Antarctic habitat by E. focardii should be related to the evolution of macromolecules able to function at low tempera- tures. To understand the molecular basis responsible for cold- adaptation, we started the characterization of the genome and transcriptome from E. focardii . At present we sequenced 15 Gbases, representing about 7200 genes. To predict the function of these sequences, we performed a blastx batch operation with Standalone BLAST. To verify if this stenothermal organism constitutively induces genes involved in the thermal response, we selected the sequences that gave hits to stress proteins from the transcriptome blastx result file. We found four different transcripts corresponding to Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs) 70, and two corresponding to the Heat Shock transcription Factors (HSF). A deeper analysis revealed the presence of transcripts that shared similarity to metallothioneins, DNA damage repair factors, proteins induced by oxidative and osmotic stresses, and proteins responding to centrifugal and shear forces. Moreover, we also found transcripts that blasted with proteins responding to general stresses. We are currently investigating the expression variation of these genes determined by environmental stresses. These results Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cbpa Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A 157 (2010) S40S41 1095-6433/$ see front matter

Effects of environmental changes and pollution on Arctic and Antarctic organisms

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27th Congress of the newEuropean Society ofComparative Biochemistry and Physiology

Alessandria (Italy) — Sept. 5–9, 2010

Biological effects of climatic changes and pollution:From biomarkers to system biology

Session 9: Effects of environment changes and pollution on Artic and Antarctic organisms

INVITED LECTURE

1.Effects of environmental changes and pollution on Arctic andAntarctic organisms

B.M. Jenssen (NorwegianUniversityof Science andTechnology,Norway)

Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems are threatened by anthropogenicactivity at increasing rates. Global warming, persistent organic pollutants(POPs), exploitation of marine resources and petroleum activity arecurrently the major threats to these fragile ecosystems. Pollution istransported to Polar environments via long-range atmospheric transport,and the rate of global warming has been claimed to be very high in theArctic. POPs identified in Polar ecosystems originate from the industria-lized and heavily populated areas of the Earth. Many of these POPs haveendocrine disrupting properties. They may therefore interfere withphysiological adaptations of Polar organisms to their extreme environ-ments and to environmental change. Even though environmental levels ofPOPs generally are much lower in Polar environments than in the moredensely populated areas on Earth, levels of POPs in Polar top-predators arevery high. This is due to the biomagnification of these compounds. Highlevels of POPs have been associated with endocrine disruption in severalendemic Arctic top predators. The thyroid and the reproductive hormonesystems seem to be particularly susceptible to endocrine disruption. Thethyroid hormone system is involved in several physiological processes thatare important for evolutionary adaptation and acclimatization to environ-mental changes. Thyroid hormones are also involved in growth anddevelopment, and in cognitive and behavioural processes. Even relativelylow levels of POPs have been associatedwith thyroid hormone disruption.Endocrine disruptive effects at the organismal level may cascade up thebiological system, resulting in reduced abilities of Polar ecosystems torespond adequately to other anthropogenic environmental changes.

doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2010.06.114

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

2.Characterization of new biomarkers from the Antarctic ciliateEuplotes focardii by a transcriptomic approach

S. Pucciarelli, R.R. Devaraj, S. Barchetta, Ting Yu, A. La Terza, C. Miceli(University of Camerino, Italy)

The stable cold Antarctic coastal seawaters host a rich variety ofeukaryotic microbes, a large fraction of which is represented byspecies of ciliates, in particular Euplotes. Among the Euplotesspecies isolated from Terra Nova Bay, E. focardii shows strictlypsychrophilic and stenothermal phenotypes, including optimalsurvival and multiplication rates at 4–5 °C, that denote an ancientcolonization of the Antarctic environment. The successful coloni-zation of the Antarctic habitat by E. focardii should be related tothe evolution of macromolecules able to function at low tempera-tures. To understand the molecular basis responsible for cold-adaptation, we started the characterization of the genome andtranscriptome from E. focardii. At present we sequenced∼15 Gbases, representing about 7200 genes. To predict thefunction of these sequences, we performed a blastx batchoperation with Standalone BLAST. To verify if this stenothermalorganism constitutively induces genes involved in the thermalresponse, we selected the sequences that gave hits to stressproteins from the transcriptome blastx result file. We found fourdifferent transcripts corresponding to Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs)70, and two corresponding to the Heat Shock transcription Factors(HSF). A deeper analysis revealed the presence of transcripts thatshared similarity to metallothioneins, DNA damage repair factors,proteins induced by oxidative and osmotic stresses, and proteinsresponding to centrifugal and shear forces. Moreover, we alsofound transcripts that blasted with proteins responding to generalstresses. We are currently investigating the expression variation ofthese genes determined by environmental stresses. These results

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A

j ourna l homepage: www.e lsev ie r.com/ locate /cbpa

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A 157 (2010) S40–S41

1095-6433/$ – see front matter