Development of a yellow perch microarray for the detection of metal stress

细胞蛋白质具有大量的基本功能。蛋白质功能的例子包括酶、膜转运体和通道、细胞内配体和激素受体。活着的生物体从储存在DNA中的基因中记录的遗传密码中产生蛋白质，这些密码被转录成信使RNA(信使RNA)，然后翻译成蛋白质。细胞中存在特定的信使核糖核酸，表明细胞或生物对它们所编码的蛋白质的需求。生态毒理基因组学是研究野生生物中污染物暴露后基因表达变化的科学。这项研究将研究野外暴露于金属混合物中的野生黄花鱼基因表达模式的变化。为此，我们将创建一个cDNA微阵列，它由一张玻璃玻片组成，上面将发现1000多个基因序列，并将允许同时测量玻片上存在的所有基因的表达水平。黄花鱼是加拿大主要金属开采和冶炼地区最常见的野生鱼类，因此是与金属生态毒理基因组学最相关的鱼类。沿着金属污染梯度，将从萨德伯里和鲁恩-诺兰达质量控制中心收集黄鲈。在鲁因-诺兰达，来自清洁湖泊的鱼也将被关在受污染的湖泊中，反之亦然。最后，为了将基本的生理和行为反应与基因表达谱联系起来，黄鱼还将在实验室中暴露于单一金属和自然应激源(温度、低氧、食物配给变化)。综合起来，这些研究将使我们能够识别金属特异的基因表达特征。将对微阵列进行测试，目的是开发一种监测受污染水环境中金属的环境影响的工具。这项研究的结果将提高我们监测和减轻加拿大金属工业对环境影响的能力。

Cell proteins serve a vast number of essential functions. Examples of protein functions include enzymes, membrane transporters and channels, intracellular ligands and hormone receptors. Living organisms produce proteins from genetic codes recorded in genes stored as DNA, which are transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA) and then translated into proteins. The presence of specific mRNA in cells indicates a cellular or organismal need for the proteins for which they encode. Ecotoxicogenomics is the study of changes in gene expression in response to contaminant exposure in wild organisms. This study will examine changes in gene expression patterns in wild yellow perch exposed to metal mixtures in the field. To this end, we will create a cDNA microarray, consisting of a glass slide on which over 1000 gene sequences will be spotted, and which will allow the simultaneous measurement of the level of expression of all genes present on the slide. Yellow perch is the most common species of wild fish around major metal mining and smelting areas in Canada and therefore the most relevant fish for metals ecotoxicogenomics. Yellow perch will be collected from Sudbury ON and Rouyn-Noranda QC, along metal contamination gradients. In Rouyn-Noranda, fish from a clean lake will also be caged in a contaminated lake and vice-versa. Finally, yellow perch will also be exposed in the laboratory to single metals and to natural stressors (temperature, hypoxia, food ration variations) in order to link basic physiological and behavioural responses to gene expression profiles. Combined, these studies will allow us to identify metal-specific gene expression signatures. The microarray will be tested with the objective to develop a tool for Environmental Effects Monitoring of metals in contaminated aquatic environments. The results of this study will improve our capacity to monitor and mitigate the environmental impacts of the metals industry in Canada.