Liquid biopsies for omics-based analysis in sentinel mussels

Area of Science:

• Marine Biology
• Environmental Science
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Liquid biopsy offers a non-invasive method for analyzing nucleic acid biomarkers in biomedical research.
• Sentinel organisms like mussels are valuable for monitoring aquatic ecosystem health.
• Traditional tissue sampling can be invasive and lead to mortality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt liquid biopsy technology using FTA cards for sentinel mussels.
• To enable long-term omics analysis (transcriptome, metagenomics) from mussel liquid biopsies.
• To establish a stable, non-invasive, and ethically sound method for mussel biobanking and biomarker discovery.

Main Methods:

• Collected hemocytes from mussel liquid biopsies and fixed them onto FTA cards.
• Performed transcriptome analysis on fixed hemocytes.
• Conducted metagenomic analysis of bacterial profiles.
• Analyzed circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) from liquid biopsies.

Main Results:

• Hemocytes fixed on FTA cards are suitable for long-term transcriptome analysis.
• Liquid biopsy is adaptable for metagenomic analysis of mussel bacterial communities.
• Liquid biopsies contain circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) as a genomic reservoir.
• FTA-fixed nucleic acids are stable at room temperature, eliminating the need for cold-chain protection and showing performance comparable to frozen samples.

Conclusions:

• A minimally-invasive, non-lethal liquid biopsy method using FTA cards is effective for mussel research.
• This approach facilitates biobanking and the development of omics-based biomarkers for assessing aquatic ecosystem quality.
• The room-temperature stability of FTA-fixed samples is ideal for remote sampling, particularly in polar regions.