PUBLICATION

Generation of Tg(cyp1a:gfp) Transgenic Zebrafish for Development of a Convenient and Sensitive In Vivo Assay for Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activity

Authors
Xu, H., Li, C., Li, Y., Ng, G.H., Liu, C., Zhang, X., Gong, Z.
ID
ZDB-PUB-150928-2
Date
2015
Source
Marine biotechnology (New York, N.Y.)   17(6): 831-40 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Gong, Zhiyuan
Keywords
Aryl hydrocarbon receptor, Cyp1a, Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB126), Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-furan (PeCDF), TCDD, Zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified/genetics*
  • Animals, Genetically Modified/metabolism
  • Benzofurans/pharmacology
  • Biological Assay/methods*
  • Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1/genetics
  • Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1/metabolism
  • Female
  • Liver/metabolism
  • Polychlorinated Biphenyls/pharmacology
  • Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins/pharmacology
  • Polymers/pharmacology
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon/analysis
  • Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon/metabolism*
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/metabolism
PubMed
26410295 Full text @ Mar. Biotechnol.
Abstract
Both dioxins/dioxin-like compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are persistent organic pollutants and cause multiple adverse health effects on human and wildlife. Cyp1a is the most commonly used biomarker induced by these pollutants through activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) pathway. Here we generated Tg(cyp1a:gfp) transgenic zebrafish for establishing a convenient in vivo assay for analysing these xenobiotic compounds. The Tg(cyp1a:gfp) larvae at 4 day post-fertilization were tested with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), and GFP induction was observed mainly in the kidney, liver and gut. Similar GFP expression was also induced strongly by two dioxin-like chemicals, co-planar polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB126) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-furan (PeCDF) and relatively weakly by two PAHs, 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC) and benzo[a]pyrene (BAP). The lowest observed effective concentration (LOEC) of TCDD was estimated to be ∼1 pM and the EC50 (effective concentration to induce GFP in 50 % of Tg(cyp1a:gfp) larvae) was ∼10 pM. PCB126 and PeCDF had ∼10× lower potencies in GFP induction than TCDD, while the potencies for 3-MC and BAP were at least 1000× lower. The sensitivity of Tg(cyp1a:gfp) larvae to respond TCDD was also favourable compared to that of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) assay in both zebrafish larvae and adult livers. As GFP-based assay in transgenic zebrafish can be easily accommodated in multi-well dishes, the Tg(cyp1a:gfp) zebrafish should provide not only a valuable biomonitoring tool for aquatic contaminants but also a potential high-throughput chemical screening platform for identification of new AhR agonists.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping