Interspecific Variation in Nematode Responses to Metals

Performing toxicity testing on multiple species with differing degrees of evolutionary relatedness can provide important information on how chemical sensitivity varies among species and can help pinpoint the biological drivers of species sensitivity. Such knowledge could ultimately be used to design...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental toxicology and chemistry 2020-05, Vol.39 (5), p.1006-1016
Main Authors: Heaton, Andrew, Faulconer, Elizabeth, Milligan, Emma, Kroetz, Mary B., Weir, Scott M., Glaberman, Scott
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal husbandry
Biological evolution
Caenorhabditis elegans
Copper
Copper chloride
Copper converters
Ecological risk assessment
Heavy metals
Interspecific
Lethality
Metals
Nematodes
Risk assessment
Sensitivity
Sensitivity analysis
Species
Toxicity
Toxicity testing
Worms
Zinc
Zinc chloride
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Summary:Performing toxicity testing on multiple species with differing degrees of evolutionary relatedness can provide important information on how chemical sensitivity varies among species and can help pinpoint the biological drivers of species sensitivity. Such knowledge could ultimately be used to design better multispecies predictive ecological risk assessment models and identify particularly sensitive species. However, laboratory toxicity tests involving multiple species can also be resource intensive, especially when each species has unique husbandry conditions. We performed lethality tests with 2 metals, copper chloride and zinc chloride, on 5 different nematode species, which are nested in their degree of evolutionary relatedness: Caenorhabditis briggsae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Oscheius myriophila, Oscheius tipulae, and Pristionchus pacificus. All species were successfully cultured and tested concurrently with limited resources, demonstrating that inexpensive, multispecies nematode toxicity testing systems are achievable. The results indicate that P. pacificus is the most sensitive to both metals. Conversely, C. elegans is the least sensitive species to copper, but the second most sensitive to zinc, indicating that species relationships do not necessarily predict species sensitivity. Toxicity testing with additional nematode species and types of chemicals is feasible and will help form more generalizable conclusions about relative species sensitivity. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:1006–1016. © 2020 SETAC
ISSN:0730-7268
1552-8618
DOI:10.1002/etc.4689