Expression of genes involved in copper horneostasis in sea bream (Sparus aurata) exposed to waterborn and dietary copper

Citation

Leaver M, Carpene E, Minghetti M & George S (2006) Expression of genes involved in copper horneostasis in sea bream (Sparus aurata) exposed to waterborn and dietary copper. Thirteenth International Symposium on Pollutant Responses in Marine Organisms (PRIMO 13), Alessandria, 19/06/2005 - 23/06/2005. Marine Environmental Research, 62 (Supplement 1), pp. S172-S173. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141113606001000

Abstract
Copper is an essential micronutrient for fish and is therefore added to finfish aquaculture diets. However, in excess copper is also highly toxic due to reaction with intracellular thiol groups and the initiation of oxidative damage. The practise of intensive aquaculture has led to the build-up of potentially toxic levels of copper beneath fish cages through the deposition of uneaten food and faeces. It is important therefore to gain a clearer understanding of how different levels of copper in food or in water affect intracellular and organ copper homeostasis in farmed fish, and to determine which of the genes involved in copper uptake, transport and excretion are critical for these processes. Using RT-PCR a variety of potentially important cDNAs for proteins involved in copper homeostasis have been isolated from sea bream. These include CTR1, SOD, GR, MT, ATOX and ATP7. In addition sea bream were exposed to copper in the diet at two different concentrations (30 and 100 mg Cu/kg of pellet) and to Cu2+ dissolved in natural sea water at 0.3 ppm. Samples of liver, kidney, gill and intestine were taken for analysis at day 0, 15 and 30 and the levels of expression of several copper homeostasis genes were measured by Q-PCR. The results show that these genes are differentially regulated in a tissue- and time-dependent manner and indicate sites that may be critical for regulating copper homeostasis in sea bream. (M.M. was financially supported by European commission ‘access to research infrastructure Grant HPRI-CT-2001-00180 and University of Bologna grant MIPA.)

Notes
Output Type: Meeting Abstract

Journal
Marine Environmental Research: Volume 62, Issue Supplement 1