Preliminary Evidence for Snail Deformation from a Eutrophic Lake

Publication date: Available online 23 June 2017 Source:Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology Author(s): Kun Lei, Fei Qiao, Qing Liu, Zhanliang Wei, Lihui An, Hongli Qi, Song Cui, Gerald A. LeBlanc The incidence of deformities in snails Bellamya aeruginosa was investigated in a typical eutrophicated lake − Taihu Lake. A total of 15 105 specimens were collected, and 0.18∼0.93% of the snails exhibited abnormal tentacle bifurcations. Abnormally developed snails were all female and were found in regions with relatively high Chlorophyll a levels (12.40±7.23μg/L). As tentacles are sexually dimorphic in B. aeruginosa, we postulated that factors associated with eutrophication might be responsible for the partial masculinization of tentacles in females. Differential gene expression analyses revealed that a number of unigenes were significantly up-regulated or down-regulated in snails sampled from three locations having high Chlorophyll a levels compared with snails sampled from the region with lower Chlorophyll a level (2.95μg/L). Thus, transcriptomic profiling revealed potential molecular signal of eutrophication that can lead to developmental abnormalities in this species. Graphical abstract
Source: Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research