Insights into the molecular mechanisms of pesticide tolerance in the Aporrectodea caliginosa earthworm

Type Article
Date 2023-02
Language English
Author(s) Barranger AudreyORCID1, Klopp ChristopheORCID2, Le Bot Barbara3, Saramito Gaëlle3, Dupont LiseORCID4, Llopis Stéphanie1, Wiegand Claudia1, Binet Françoise1
Affiliation(s) 1 : UMR CNRS ECOBIO 6553, Université de Rennes1, Campus de Beaulieu, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042, Rennes, Cedex, France
2 : UR INRAE 875 MIAT, GENOTOUL, 24 Chemin de Borde Rouge, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan, Cedex, France
3 : Université de Rennes, EHESP, Inserm, Irset (Institut de Recherche en Santé, Environnement et Travail) - UMR_S 1085, F 35000, Rennes, France
4 : Université Paris Est Créteil (UPEC), Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris, 94010, Créteil, Cedex, France
Source Environmental Pollution (0269-7491) (Elsevier BV), 2023-02 , Vol. 319 , P. 120945 (14p.)
DOI 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120945
WOS© Times Cited 2
Keyword(s) Aporrectodea, Transcriptomics, Pesticides residues, Mitochondrial respiratory chain, Agrosystem, Soil biodiversity
Abstract

Diffuse pollution of the environment by pesticides has become a major soil threat to non-target organisms, such as earthworms for which declines have been reported. However some endogeic species are still abundant and persist in intensively cultivated fields, suggesting they become tolerant to long-term anthropogenic pressure. We thus considered the working hypothesis that populations of Aporrectodea caliginosa earthworms from conventionally managed fields developed a tolerance to pesticides compared with those from organically managed fields. To investigate this hypothesis, we studied earthworm populations of the same genetic lineage from soils that were either lowly or highly contaminated by pesticides to detect any constitutive expression of differentially expressed molecular pathways between these populations. Earthworm populations were then experimentally exposed to a fungicide—epoxiconazole—in the laboratory to identify different molecular responses when newly exposed to a pesticide. State-of-the-art omics technology (RNA sequencing) and bioinformatics were used to characterize molecular mechanisms of tolerance in a non-targeted way. Additional physiological traits (respirometry, growth, bioaccumulation) were monitored to assess tolerance at higher levels of biological organization. In the present study, we generated the de novo assembly transcriptome of A. caliginosa consisting of 64,556 contigs with N50 = 2862 pb. In total, 43,569 Gene Ontology terms were identified for 21,593 annotated sequences under the three main ontologies (biological processes, cellular components and molecular functions). Overall, we revealed that two same lineage populations of A. caliginosa earthworms, inhabiting similar pedo-climatic environment, have distinct gene expression pathways after they long-lived in differently managed agricultural soils with a contrasted pesticide exposure history for more than 22 years. The main difference was observed regarding metabolism, with upregulated pathways linked to proteolytic activities and the mitochondrial respiratory chain in the highly exposed population. This study improves our understanding of the long-term impact of chronic exposure of soil engineers to pesticide residues.

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Barranger Audrey, Klopp Christophe, Le Bot Barbara, Saramito Gaëlle, Dupont Lise, Llopis Stéphanie, Wiegand Claudia, Binet Françoise (2023). Insights into the molecular mechanisms of pesticide tolerance in the Aporrectodea caliginosa earthworm. Environmental Pollution, 319, 120945 (14p.). Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120945 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00813/92484/