Combining time-resolved transcriptomics and proteomics data for Adverse Outcome Pathway refinement in ecotoxicology

Area of Science:

• Environmental toxicology
• Ecotoxicology
• Environmental chemistry

Background:

• Conventional Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) relies on soil concentrations and apical endpoints, often overlooking intermediate biological responses.
• The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) framework integrates multi-level biological responses, offering predictive insights into adverse outcomes.
• Integrating transcriptomic and proteomic data is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of toxicological response cascades and AOP development.

Approach:

• Investigated time-resolved transcriptomic and proteomic shifts in the springtail Folsomia candida following exposure to the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid.
• Analyzed multi-omics data at 12-hour intervals up to 72 hours post-exposure to assess temporal dynamics.
• Employed cross-correlation analyses to determine the synchronization between gene transcript and protein abundance changes.

Key Points:

• The most significant shifts in both transcript and protein abundances occurred at 48 hours post-imidacloprid exposure.
• Cross-correlation analysis revealed that transcript and protein abundances for most genes were highly correlated without a significant time lag.
• This indicates that simultaneous multi-omics data collection is effective for capturing synchronized response cascades.

Conclusions:

• Combined analysis of transcriptomic and proteomic data from the same time-point can significantly enhance AOP development.
• The findings support the use of synchronized multi-omics data for improving predictive models in environmental risk assessment.
• This research facilitates the development of novel biomarkers for detecting neonicotinoid insecticides and similar chemicals in soil ecosystems.