Toxicity evaluation of benzo[a]pyrene on the polychaete Perinereis nuntia using subtractive cDNA libraries

To gain insight into the toxic effects of the carcinogenic PAH benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) on the typical marine benthic polychaete Perinereis nuntia, we amplified and sequenced genes by creating subtractive cDNA libraries between worms exposed to BaP and solvent control. We assigned functions to the identified sequences and further analyzed the transcriptional profile changes of a set of 50 selected potential marker genes using quantitative real time PCR. A total of 2422 new high quality ESTs (GenBank accession number GT629654-GT632075) were obtained in the P. nuntia subtracted cDNA libraries, and assembled into 1594 unique sequences. Blastx results showed 700 of the unique sequences shared high similarity with existing genes in the GenBank nr database. Functional annotation of these enriched gene segments suggested that P. nuntia shows a wide range of toxicological responses to BaP. Comparison of the transcriptional profiles of the 50 potential marker genes in worms exposed to BaP and the control suggested that BaP significantly changed the expression of genes involved in xenobiotics metabolism, reactive oxygen species (ROS) elimination, DNA repair, apoptosis, cell division cycle, neurodegeneration, neurotransmitter metabolism and carcinogenesis. It also shows that there are significant correlations between these potential marker genes. The results support the prediction that the polychaete P. nuntia also has a set of tumor-related genes, while other responses influenced by BaP involve detoxification, antioxidation, DNA repair and apoptosis.