Gill and liver transcriptomic responses of Achirus lineatus (Neopterygii: Achiridae) exposed to water-accommodated fraction (WAF) of light crude oil reveal an onset of hypoxia-like condition

Transcriptome analysis of Sparidentex hasta larvae exposed to water-accommodated fraction of Kuwait crude oil

Anthropogenic activities have been shown to significantly affect marine life. Water pollution and oil spills are particularly deleterious to the fish population, especially during their larval stage. In this study, Sobaity-sea bream Sparidentex hasta (Valenciennes, 1830) larvae were exposed to serial dilutions of water-accommodated fraction of Kuwait crude oil (KCO-WAF) for varying durations (3, 6, 24, 48, 72 or 96 h) in acute exposure regime. Gene expression was assessed using RNA sequencing and validated through RT-qPCR. The RNA sequencing data were aligned to the sequenced genome, and differentially expressed genes were identified in response to treatment with or without KCO-WAF at various exposure times. The highest number of differentially expressed genes was observed at the early time point of 6 h of post-exposure to KCO-WAF. The lowest number of differentially expressed genes were noticed at 96 h of treatment indicating early response of the larvae to KCO-WAF contaminant. The acquired information on the differentially expressed genes was then used for functional and pathway analysis. More than 90% of the differentially expressed genes had a significant BLAST match, with the two most common matching species being Acanthopagrus latus and Sparus aurata. Approximately 65% of the differentially expressed genes had Gene Ontology annotations, whereas > 35% of the genes had KEGG pathway annotations. The differentially expressed genes were found to be enriched for various signaling pathways (e.g., MAPK, cAMP, PI3K-Akt) and nervous system-related pathways (e.g., neurodegeneration, axon guidance, glutamatergic synapse, GABAergic synapse). Early exposure modulated the signaling pathways, while KCO-WAF exposure of larvae for a longer duration affected the neurodegenerative/nervous system-related pathways. RT-qPCR analysis confirmed the differential expression of genes at each time point. These findings provide insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms of the deleterious effects of acute exposure to oil pollution-on marine fish populations, particularly at the early larval stage of Sparidentex hasta.

Emerging studies on oil pollution biomonitoring: A systematic review

In the last decade, several methods were applied to monitor the impact of oil pollution on marine organisms. Recent studies showed an eminent need to standardize these methods to produce comparable results. Here we present the first thorough systematic review of the literature on oil pollution monitoring methods in the last decade. The literature search resulted on 390 selected original articles, categorized according to the analytical method employed. Except for Ecosystem-level analyses, most methods are used on short-term studies. The combination of Biomarker and Bioaccumulation analysis is the most frequently adopted strategy for oil pollution biomonitoring, followed by Omic analyses. This systematic review describes the principles of the most frequently used monitoring tools, presents their advantages, limitations, and main findings and, as such, could be used as a guideline for future researches on the field.