Ecotoxicogenomics

Mussel ecotoxicogenomics

New Zealand's endemic greenshell mussel (Perna canaliculus) is widespread throughout the country, and as such, can be used as model organism to monitor environmental health. PhD student Adele Whyte is applying a proteomics approach to study the response of greenshell mussels to various environmental insults. The intention of this work is to find a rapid methodology which may be applied to mussels collected from different sites around the country which will allow us to estimate the health of each particular site. This research is being jointly run through CMEER and the Centre for Biodiscovery.

How to ‘spot’ a ‘stressed out mussel!

Proteins extracted from Perna canaliculus (control and Cd treated gill tissue) were separated using 2D-DIGE.  The green and red spots indicate differences in protein occurrence and abundance whereas proteins with similar responses are yellow.  This technique was used to detect proteins involved in response to heavy metal challenge.