Toxicity of ionic liquids against earthworms (Eisenia fetida)

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2023-06, Vol.875, p.162411-162411, Article 162411
• Main Authors: Chu, Linglong, Hou, Xiaoxiao, Song, Xinshan, Zhao, Xiaoxiang, Hu, Shuangqing, Shen, Genxiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antioxidants - metabolism; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; Eisenia fetida; Imidazoles - toxicity; Ionic liquids; Ionic Liquids - chemistry; Ionic Liquids - toxicity; Mechanism analysis; Oligochaeta - metabolism; Soil - chemistry; Soil Pollutants - metabolism; Toxicity effect
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162411

Ionic liquids (ILs) are widely used in frontier fields because of their highly tunable properties. Although ILs may have adverse effects on organisms, few studies have focused on their effect on earthworm gene expression. Herein we investigated the toxicity mechanism of different ILs towards Eisenia fetida using transcriptomics. Earthworms were exposed to soil containing different concentrations and types of ILs, and behavior, weight, enzymatic activity and transcriptome were analyzed. Earthworms exhibited avoidance behavior towards ILs and growth was inhibited. ILs also affected antioxidant and detoxifying enzymatic activity. These effects were concentration and alkyl chain length-dependent. Analysis of intrasample expression levels and differences in transcriptome expression levels showed good parallelism within groups and large differences between groups. Based on functional classification analysis, we speculate that toxicity mainly occurs through translation and modification of proteins and intracellular transport functions, which affect protein-related binding functions and catalytic activity. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that ILs may damage the digestive system of earthworms, among other possible pathological effects. Transcriptome analysis reveals mechanisms that cannot be observed by conventional toxicity endpoints. This is useful to evaluate the potential environmental adverse effects of the industrial use of ILs. [Display omitted] •Ionic liquids (ILs) can inhibit the growth of earthworms.•Different ILs have different effects on the transcriptome of earthworms.•ILs can destroy protein synthesis and related functions of earthworms.•ILs can damage the digestive system of earthworms.