Transcriptional variations in biomarkers of Mytilus galloprovincialis sampled from Central Adriatic coastal waters (Marche region, Italy)

Abstract

Objective: this work evaluates the expression of several biomarker genes (i.e. CAT, HSPs, MT10, p53, GSTpi, ER1/2) in Mytilus galloprovincialis native specimens to identify pollution related transcriptional changes.

Methods: gene expression levels were analysed in the gills of mussels from five sites along a coastal area of the central Adriatic Sea, using qPCR.

Results: we observed higher expression levels of biomarker genes in mussels from the local harbour or river mouths than in mussels from the reference site and offshore platform.

Conclusions: the variations in gene expression observed indicated high sensitivity to pollutants, and showed differences among the sampling sites.

Keywords:

• Adriatic Sea
• mussel
• biomarkers
• gene transcription
• molecular effects
• qRT-PCR

Acknowledgements

Martina Capriotti was recipient of a Eureka fellowship through the Eureka PhD programme 2014. The authors would like to thank Dr. Luca Bracchetti for his assistance with study area map elaboration. We would like to thank Sheila Beatty for editing the English usage in the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this article.