Over the past years, several studies have been dedicated to understanding the physiological ability of the vent mussel Bathymodiolus azoricus to overcome the high metal concentrations present in their surrounding hydrothermal environment. Potential deep-sea mining activities at Azores Triple junction hydrothermal vent deposits would inevitably lead to the emergence of new fluid sources close to mussel beds, with consequent emission of high metal concentrations and potential resolubilization of Cu from minerals formed during the active phase of the vent field. Copper is an essential metal playing a key role in the activation of metalloenzymes and metalloproteins responsible for important cellular metabolic processes and tissue homeostasis. However, excessive intracellular amounts of reactive Cu ions may cause irreversible damages triggering possible cell apoptosis. In the present study, B. azoricus was exposed to increasing concentrations of Cu for 96 h in conditions of temperature and hydrostatic pressure similar to those experienced at the Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent field. Specimens were kept in 1L flasks, exposed to four Cu concentrations: 0 μg/L (control), 300, 800 and 1600 μg/L and pressurized to 1750 bar. We addressed the question of how increased Cu concentration would affect the function of antioxidant defense proteins and expression of antioxidant and immune-related genes in B. azoricus. Both antioxidant enzymatic activities and gene expression were examined in gills, mantle and digestive gland tissues of exposed vent mussels. Our study reveals that stressful short-term Cu exposure has a strong effect on molecular metabolism of the hydrothermal vent mussel, especially in gill tissue. Initially, both the stress caused by unpressurization or by Cu exposure was associated with high antioxidant enzyme activities and tissue-specific transcriptional up-regulation. However, mussels exposed to increased Cu concentrations showed both antioxidant and immune-related gene suppression. Under a mining activity scenario, the release of an excess of dissolved Cu to the vent environment may cause serious changes in cellular defense mechanisms of B. azoricus. This outcome, while adding to our knowledge of Cu toxicity, highlights the potentially deleterious impacts of mining activities on the physiology of deep-sea organisms.

在过去的几年中，已经进行了几项研究来了解贻贝排泄物百里香百里香的生理能力。克服周围水热环境中存在的高金属浓度。亚速尔群岛三结热液喷口沉积物的潜在深海采矿活动不可避免地会导致在贻贝床附近出现新的流体源，从而排放出高浓度的金属，并可能在喷口活动阶段形成的矿物中溶解铜。场地。铜是必需金属，在激活重要的细胞代谢过程和组织稳态的金属酶和金属蛋白的活化中起着关键作用。但是，细胞内过量的反应性铜离子可能会导致不可逆转的破坏，从而触发可能的细胞凋亡。在本研究中，偶氮芽孢杆菌在类似于Lucky Strike热液喷口现场所经历的温度和静水压力下，暴露于浓度不断增加的Cu中96小时。将样品保存在1L烧瓶中，暴露于4种Cu浓度：0μg/ L（对照），300、800和1600μg/ L，并加压至1750 bar。我们讨论了增加铜浓度是否会影响抗氧化防御蛋白和抗氧化和免疫相关基因表达的作用的问题乙。偶氮的。在裸露的贻贝的腮，地幔和消化腺组织中检查了抗氧化剂的酶活性和基因表达。我们的研究表明，短期短期接触铜会对热液喷口贻贝的分子代谢产生强烈影响，尤其是在g组织中。最初，由不加压或铜暴露引起的压力均与高抗氧化酶活性和组织特异性转录上调相关。但是，贻贝暴露于高浓度的铜时，其抗氧化剂和免疫相关基因均受到抑制。在采矿活动中，过量的溶解的铜释放到放空环境中可能会导致重氮芽孢杆菌的细胞防御机制发生重大变化。。这一结果在增加我们对铜毒性的认识的同时，突显了采矿活动对深海生物生理的潜在有害影响。