Gene expression profiling and expression analysis of freshwater shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata denticulata) using expressed sequence tags and short-term exposure to copper

The aim of the current study was to investigate environmental potential biomonitoring marker to exposure the copper from freshwater shrimp using expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis. The freshwater shrimp was collected from Lake Chang Pyung, South Korea and made cDNA libraries from whole body. To analyze expression patterns of putative biomarkersaccording to the individuals'exposure to copper in a time-and concentration-dependentmanners, Quantitative PCR (qPCR) wasconducted. The expression levels of 9 potential biomarkers for heavy metal exposure including arginine kinase, acheron, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, metallothionein, methylene tetrahydrofolatereductase, glutathione peroxidase, cathepsin L, cathepsin A and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase genes were upregulated 1-24 hr post-exposure to copper, in an exposure time- and/or dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the discovery of genes that relate to heavy metal exposure and immune defense enables us to investigate the toxicity mechanisms and ecological effects ofheavy metal pollution. This study contributes to the identification of numerous EST clones that can be applied to further clarify the genetics and biomonitoring markers of freshwater shrimp.