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Ecotoxicity of triphenyltin on the marine copepod Tigriopus japonicus at various biological organisations: from molecular to population-level effects

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Abstract

Triphenyltin compounds (TPTs), as effective biocides for different industrial and agricultural purposes, have been detected in coastal marine environments worldwide, in particular in Asian countries. However, little is known about their toxicity to marine organisms. This study comprehensively investigated the molecular, individual and population responses of the marine copepod, Tigriopus japonicus upon waterborne exposure to TPT chloride (TPTCl). Our results indicated that TPTCl was highly toxic to adult T. japonicus, with a 96-h LC50 concentration at 6.3 μg/L. As shown in a chronic full life-cycle test, T. japonicus exposed to 1.0 μg/L TPTCl exhibited a delay in development and a significant reduction of population growth, in terms of the intrinsic rate of increase (r m ). Based on the negative relationship between the r m and exposure concentration, a critical effect concentration was estimated at 1.6 μg/L TPTCl; at or above which population extinction could occur. At 0.1 μg/L TPTCl or above, the sex ratio of the second generation of the copepod was significantly altered and changed to a male-biased population. At molecular level, the inhibition of the transcriptional expression of glutathione S-transferase related genes might lead to dysfunction of detoxification, and the inhibition of retinoid X receptor mRNA expression implied an interruption of the growth and moulting process in T. japonicus. As the only gene that observed up-regulated in this study, the expression of heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) increased in a concentration-dependent manner, indicating its function in protecting the copepod from TPT-mediated oxidative stress. The study advances our understanding on the ecotoxicity of TPT, and provides some initial data on its toxic mechanisms in small crustaceans like copepods.

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Acknowledgments

This work is substantially supported by the Area of Excellence Scheme under the University Grants Committee (Project No. AoE/P-04/2004) of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Andy Yi thanks the Swire Institute of Marine Science and the University of Hong Kong to provide him a PhD studentship. This work was partially supported by a Grant of MOMAF (2012) funded to Jae-Seong Lee.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Swire Institute of Marine Science and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China

    Andy Xianliang Yi & Kenneth M. Y. Leung

  2. Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea

    Jeonghoon Han

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea

    Jae-Seong Lee

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  1. Andy Xianliang Yi
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Yi, A.X., Han, J., Lee, JS. et al. Ecotoxicity of triphenyltin on the marine copepod Tigriopus japonicus at various biological organisations: from molecular to population-level effects. Ecotoxicology 23, 1314–1325 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1274-y

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