Coupling caging and proteomics on the European flounder (Platichthys flesus) to assess the estuarine water quality at micro scale

Elodie Borcier (1) , Sébastien Artigaud (1) , Jean-Charles Gaillard (2, 3) , J. Armengaud (2, 3) , Grégory Charrier (1) , Jérome Couteau (4) , Justine Receveur (5) , Baghdad Ouddane (6) , Mamadou Diop (7) , Rachid Amara (7) , Jean Laroche (1) , Vianney Pichereau (1)

1 LEMAR - Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR)
2 LI2D - Laboratoire Innovations technologiques pour la Détection et le Diagnostic
3 SPI - Service de Pharmacologie et Immunoanalyse
4 TOXEM
5 Cedre - Centre de documentation de recherche et d'expérimentations sur les pollutions accidentelles des eaux
6 LASIRE - Laboratoire Avancé de Spectroscopie pour les Intéractions la Réactivité et l'Environnement - UMR 8516
7 LOG - Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences (LOG) - UMR 8187

Estuaries are important areas highly vulnerable to anthropogenic pollutions. Therefore, the assessment of estuarine water quality is a major ecological issue. In this study, we sampled juveniles of the European flounder in the “pristine” Canche estuary, and caged them in Canche and in two polluted sites of the Seine estuary, Rouen and Fosse Nord. After one month, the metal and organic pollutants in these sites were assessed, and we evaluated several phenotypic indicators (condition index, RNA/DNA ratios and genotoxicity), and extracted the proteins in fish livers for analysis using a shotgun proteomics approach.The results showed strong modifications in the fish caged in both sites of the Seine estuary, as compared to those caged in Canche. In particular, many proteins involved in phase I and phase II detoxification reactions were accumulated in the liver of fish caged in the site showing the highest pollution, Rouen. In addition, we observed a general disruption of metabolism, in particular an increase in lipid synthesis and carbohydrate degradation in Rouen, and a decrease in the abundance of proteins associated to translational activity in Fosse Nord. At both sites, several stress proteins were decreased.The proteomic impact of the encagement by itself was also evaluated, by comparing the liver proteome of fish caged in Canche to that of fish stayed in natura during the same time. The results showed proteomic signatures of exposure to stressful conditions (particularly heat stress), most probably related to the micro-habitat in which the cages were placed. In conclusion, the caging technique is of great interest for ecotoxicological assessment of estuarine waters, but should consider that the results are representative of the micro-habitat around the cages, which does not necessarily represent the overall heterogeneity of the estuarine environment.

Mots clés: Estuary water quality; Ecotoxicology; Caging Stress; Fish physiology; Shotgun proteomics; ACL

Domaines: Géochimie; Biodiversité et Ecologie

Elodie Borcier, Sébastien Artigaud, Jean-Charles Gaillard, J. Armengaud, Grégory Charrier, et al.. Coupling caging and proteomics on the European flounder (Platichthys flesus) to assess the estuarine water quality at micro scale. Science of the Total Environment, 2019, 695, pp.133760. ⟨10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133760⟩. ⟨hal-02404132⟩