Use of gene regulatory sensors to monitor environmental pollutant levels in small mammals and birds

由于人类活动，环境中杀虫剂和二恶英类污染物的大量增加。其中一些化学物质是持久性的，并在食物链中积累，这引起了人们对中期和长期接触对人类甚至野生动物健康的重大关切。测量环境中这类污染物的经典方法是用生化方法对水源和土壤源进行取样，以评估它们的丰度。一旦确定了这些测量值，就可以确定它们是否在被认为对生物“安全”的范围内。然而，主要的缺陷是，人们如何知道需要多少这些化学物质才能影响单个物种的健康？至少在一定程度上，细胞可以通过芳烃受体（AhR）的作用来解毒污染物和农药，芳烃受体调节属于细胞色素P450 1A家族的外生代谢酶（包括CYP1A1和CYP1B1）。从理论上讲，这些越多

The abundance of pesticides and dioxin-like pollutants has massively increased in the environment due to human activity. Some of these chemicals are persistent and accumulate in the food chain, which raises major concerns regarding mid- and long-term exposure on human and even wildlife health. The classical way of measuring such pollutants in the environment is to sample water and soil sources by biochemical means to assess their abundance. Once these measurements are determined, it is decided whether they are within a range that is deemed "safe" for living creatures. However the major flaw with this is that how does one know how much of these chemicals are required to affect the health of individual species? Cells can be detoxified of pollutants and pesticides, at least in part, by the action of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), which regulates xenobiotic metabolism enzymes belonging to the cytochrome P450 1A family (including CYP1A1 and CYP1B1). In theory, the more these