Understanding the basic mechanisms leads to development of sensitive biomarkers of pollutant impact. The cytochrome P4501A gene of the widely-used biomarker species European flounder and its promoter was successfully cloned and characterised.
A cell reporter gene assay was developed to study responses to pollutants and the functional role of xenobiotic- and metal- response elements. A 13K cDNA array is being used to characterise the genomic response of flounder to model pollutants and to compare these responses with the gene expression profiles of fish taken from various estuaries of different pollutant status. In the development of cDNA arrays for investigating altered gene expression in response to pollutants, selected flounder "stress" genes have been cloned and subtractive cDNA libraries were produced from fish derived from polluted versus reference environments to capture additional, potentially novel stress responses.
Recent studies supported by the NERC, PG + P extend
this work to the stickleback as well as the flounder and focus on the
integration of the ''omics'' in characterising pollutant responses
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For more information see www.genipol.stir.ac.uk.