Meeting Abstract

132.4  Tuesday, Jan. 7 14:15  Aquatic vertebrates developing in a perchlorate world; the genetic effects of an endocrine disruptor during early development in threespine stickleback PETERSEN, AM*; VON HIPPEL, F; BUCK, CL; POSTLETHWAIT, JH; CRESKO, WA; University of Oregon, Eugene Oregon; University of Alaska, Anchorage Alaska; University of Alaska, Anchorage Alaska; University of Oregon, Eugene Oregon; University of Oregon, Eugene Oregon annp@uoregon.edu

In experimental studies of threespine stickleback fish we have found that the aquatic contaminant perchlorate causes reproductive abnormalities and cell hyperproliferation in thyroid and gonad tissues. Effects of this contaminant include disrupted sexual differentiation, small size, craniofacial malformaties, and increases or decreases in circulating thyroid hormones. We hypothesize that perchlorate exerts wide-ranging effects by interfering with gene expression patterns of the large SLC5 gene family. Perchlorate may also be affecting reproductive development by altering cell differentiation of primary germ cells during critical periods of development. To test these hypotheses that perchlorate acts to cause transcriptional disregulation and endocrine disruption, we have raised two aquatic models, the threespine stickleback and the zebrafish, in perchlorate (10 ppm) and control water from fertilization until 18 days post fertilization. We utilized RNA-seq to document patterns of transcriptome-wide response to perchlorate during the first weeks of development. In addition, analysis of gene expression, oxidative damage, cell proliferation, germ cell maturation, and histochemistry were used to broadly test the mechanisms by which perchlorate is generating such a multitude of phenotypes. Our findings are widely applicable to the understanding of how chronic developmental exposure to individual chemicals such as perchlorate can exert myriad effects in adult vertebrates, including humans.