The explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) induces gene expression of carbonyl reductase in the blue mussel ( Mytilus spp.): a
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MOLECULAR TOXICOLOGY
The explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) induces gene expression of carbonyl reductase in the blue mussel (Mytilus spp.): a new promising biomarker for sea dumped war relicts? Jennifer S. Strehse1 · Matthias Brenner2 · Michael Kisiela1 · Edmund Maser1 Received: 26 July 2020 / Accepted: 8 October 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Millions of tons of all kind of munitions, including mines, bombs and torpedoes have been dumped after World War II in the marine environment and do now pose a new threat to the seas worldwide. Beside the acute risk of unwanted detonation, there is a chronic risk of contamination, because the metal vessels corrode and the toxic and carcinogenic explosives (trinitrotoluene (TNT) and metabolites) leak into the environment. While the mechanism of toxicity and carcinogenicity of TNT and its derivatives occurs through its capability of inducing oxidative stress in the target biota, we had the idea if TNT can induce the gene expression of carbonyl reductase in blue mussels. Carbonyl reductases are members of the short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) superfamily. They metabolize xenobiotics bearing carbonyl functions, but also endogenous signal molecules such as steroid hormones, prostaglandins, biogenic amines, as well as sugar and lipid peroxidation derived reactive carbonyls, the latter providing a defence mechanism against oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here, we identified and cloned the gene coding for carbonyl reductase from the blue mussel Mytilus spp. by a bioinformatics approach. In both laboratory and field studies, we could show that TNT induces a strong and concentration-dependent induction of gene expression of carbonyl reductase in the blue mussel. Carbonyl reductase may thus serve as a biomarker for TNT exposure on a molecular level which is useful to detect TNT contaminations in the environment and to perform a risk assessment both for the ecosphere and the human seafood consumer. Keywords Dumped munitions · Blue mussels · Short-chain dehydrogenases reduactases (SDR) · Carbonyl reductase · Biomarker · Oxidative stress
Introduction Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is one of the most used explosives worldwide, nowadays and in the past, both in civil and military activities (Juhasz and Naidu 2007; Beck et al. 2018). Since World War I, military munitions have been entered into the marine environment through two different ways: First, during war actions like fired but not exploded ammunition or munitions as a load on sunken vessels and shot * Edmund Maser [email protected]‑kiel.de 1
Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology for Natural Scientists, University Medical School Schleswig-Holstein, Brunswiker Str. 10, 24105 Kiel, Germany
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
2
down fighter aircrafts (Beck et al. 2018); second, by seadumping of munitions after World Wars I and II, since the involved nations were faced with a nearly
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