Applying a multiscale systems biology approach to study the effect of chronic low-dose exposure to uranium in rat kidneys.

CONCLUSION: Our results showed changes in multi-omic profiles of rats exposed to low doses of uranium contamination, compared with controls. These changes involved gene expression as well as modifications in the transcriptome and the metabolome. The metabolomic profile confirmed that the main molecular targets of uranium in kidney cells are the metabolism of nicotinate-nicotinamide and the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. Additionally, gene expression analysis showed that the metabolism of fatty acids is targeted by processes associated with cell function. These results demonstrate that multiscale systems biology is useful in elucidating the most discriminative pathways from genomic to metabolomic levels for assessing the biological impact of this low-level environmental exposure, i.e., the exposome. PMID: 30714840 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: International Journal of Radiation Biology - Category: Radiology Tags: Int J Radiat Biol Source Type: research