Within monitoring frameworks, biomarkers provide several benefits because they serve as intermediates between pollutant exposure and effects, and integrate the responses of contaminants that operate through the same mechanism of action. This study was designed to verify the use of transcriptomic biomarkers developed in our prior work (i.e., Coastal Biosensor of Endocrine Disruption; C-BED assay) on Mytilus edulis and identify additional biomarkers for legacy pollutants. M. edulis were collected from a reference site in Pemaquid, ME, USA and deployed by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) at locations in and outside Boston Harbor, MA, USA: including (1) Boston Inner Harbor (IH), (2) the current outfall (OS), (3) 1 km away from the current outfall (LNB), and (4) Deer Island (DI), the site where untreated wastewater was formerly discharged into the bay. Differential gene expression was quantified with a high density microarray. Seven genes significantly correlated with whole tissue concentration of PAHs, and six genes significantly correlated with whole body concentrations of PCBs, two groups of legacy contaminants that were elevated at stations IH, OS, and DI. Enrichment analysis indicated that IH mussels had the highest induction of stress response genes, which correlated with the higher levels of contaminants measured at this site. Based on the C-BED assay gene analysis, stations IH and OS exhibited signs of endocrine disruption, which were further confirmed by incorporating the results for the C-BED assay within the Integrated Biomarker Response (IBR) approach. This study successfully demonstrated the potential use of transcriptomic biomarkers within a monitoring program to identify the presence and organismal responses to endocrine disrupting and legacy contaminant classes.

中文翻译：

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使用转录组生物标记物评估波士顿港的遗留和内分泌破坏性污染物。

在监测框架内，生物标志物具有多种好处，因为它们是污染物暴露与影响之间的中间产物，并整合了通过相同作用机制起作用的污染物的响应。本研究旨在验证在我们先前的工作中开发的转录组生物标记物（即内分泌干扰的沿海生物传感器； C-BED分析）在可食性Mytilus上的应用，并确定其他用于遗留污染物的生物标记物。食用蓝藻从美国马萨诸塞州Pemaquid的一个参考点收集并由马萨诸塞州水资源管理局（MWRA）部署在美国马萨诸塞州波士顿港内外的位置：包括（1）波士顿内港（IH），（ 2）当前的排放口（OS），（3）距离当前的排放口（LNB）1公里，以及（4）鹿岛（DI），未经处理的废水原先排入海湾的场所。用高密度微阵列定量差异基因表达。七个基因与PAHs的整个组织浓度显着相关，而六个基因与PCBs的全身浓度显着相关，两组在IH，OS和DI站升高的遗留污染物。富集分析表明，IH贻贝对应激反应基因的诱导程度最高，这与在该地点测得的较高污染物水平有关。根据C-BED分析基因分析，IH和OS站显示出内分泌干扰的迹象，将C-BED分析的结果纳入“综合生物标志物反应（IBR）”方法进一步证实了这一点。