Transcriptome analysis of avian livers reveals different molecular changes to three urban pollutants: Soot, artificial light at night and noise

Jul 4, 2024Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)

Molecular liver changes in birds linked to soot, artificial night light, and noise pollution

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Abstract

Short-term exposure to urban pollutants resulted in 17, 52, and 28 differentially expressed genes in zebra finches exposed to soot, artificial light at night, and traffic noise, respectively.

Soot exposure is associated with genes linked to a suppressed immune system and responses to external stimuli.
Artificial light at night is linked to downregulated genes involved in detoxification, hormonal, and metabolic processes.
Traffic noise exposure results in downregulation of genes related to cellular responses and cytokine responses.
Soot exposure may increase the expression of genes related to tumor progression.
Artificial light at night may upregulate multiple genes associated with various cancer types.
Both artificial light at night and noise exposure may lead to increased expression of genes connected to neuronal function.

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Identifying key molecular pathways and genes involved in the response to urban pollutants is an important step in furthering our understanding of the impact of urbanisation on wildlife. The expansion of urban habitats and the associated human-introduced environmental changes are considered a global threat to the health and persistence of humans and wildlife. The present study experimentally investigates how short-term exposure to three urban-related pollutants -soot, artificial light at night (ALAN) and traffic noise-affects transcriptome-wide gene expression in livers from captive female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Compared to unexposed controls, 17, 52, and 28 genes were differentially expressed in soot, ALAN and noise-exposed birds, respectively. In soot-exposed birds, the enriched gene ontology (GO) terms were associated with a suppressed immune system such as interferon regulating genes (IRGs) and responses to external stimuli. For ALAN-exposed birds, enriched GO terms were instead based on downregulated genes associated with detoxification, redox, hormonal-, and metabolic processes. Noise exposure resulted in downregulation of genes associated with the GO terms: cellular responses to substances, catabolic and cytokine responses. Among the individually differentially expressed genes (DEGs), soot led to an increased expression of genes related to tumour progression. Likewise, ALAN revealed an upregulation of multiple genes linked to different cancer types. Both sensory pollutants (ALAN and noise) led to increased expression of genes linked to neuronal function. Interestingly, noise caused upregulation of genes associated with serotonin regulation and function (SLC6A4 and HTR7), which previous studies have shown to be under selection in urban birds. These outcomes indicate that short-term exposure to the three urban pollutants perturbate the liver transcriptome, but most often in different ways, which highlights future studies of multiple-stress exposure and their interactive effects, along with their long-term impacts for urban-dwelling wildlife.

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Transcriptome analysis of avian livers reveals different molecular changes to three urban pollutants: Soot, artificial light at night and noise

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