Effect of Mussel's Gender and Size on a Stress Response Biomarker

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution air, and soil pollution, 2011-05, Vol.217 (1-4), p.317-320
• Main Authors: Zilberberg, Carla, Sereno, Dayane, Lima, Gabriela, Custódio, Marcio R, Lôbo-Hajdu, Gisele
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: air; Air exposure; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Anthropogenic factors; Applied ecology; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bioindicators; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecosystems; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Experiments; Females; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender; Gender differences; health status; heat stress; Hydrogeology; Hypoxia; Indicator organisms; Indicator species; Invertebrates; Kinases; MAP kinase; Marine; Metabolism; Mollusca; Mollusks; mussels; Osmotic shock; Perna perna; Physiology; protein kinases; Proteins; Soil Science & Conservation; Stress response; Studies; Techniques; Water Quality/Water Pollution
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-010-0589-4

In mussels, stress signals such as heat, osmotic shock and hypoxia lead to the activation of the phosphorylated p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (pp38-MAPK). This stress activated protein has been efficiently used as a biomarker to several natural and anthropogenic stresses. However, what has not been tested is whether differences in gender or size can affect the response of this biomarker. The present study tested whether there was variation in the expression of pp38-MAPK in mussels Perna perna of different gender and size classes when exposed to natural stress conditions, such as air exposure. The results show that gender does not affect the expression of pp38-MAPK. However, size does have an effect, where mussels smaller than 6.5 cm displayed significantly (p < 0.05) lower levels of pp38-MAPK when compared to those larger than 7 cm. Mussels are one of the most used bioindicator species and the use of biomarkers to determine the health status of an ecosystem has been greatly increasing over the years. The present study highlights the importance of using mussels of similar size classes when performing experiments using stress-related biomarkers.