Metal-binding proteins as metal pollution indicators
The fact that metal-binding proteins are a consequence of elevated metal concentration in organisms is well known. What has been overlooked is that the presence of these proteins provides a unique opportunity to reformulate the criteria of metal pollution. The detoxification effect of metal-binding proteins in animals from polluted areas has been cited, but there have been only very few studies relating metal-binding proteins to pollution. This lack is due partly to the design of most experiments, which were aimed at isolation of metal-binding proteins and hence were of too short duration to allow for correlation to adverse physiological effects on the organism. In this study metal-binding proteins were isolated and characterized from five different marine animals (rock lobster, Jasus lalandii; hermit crab, Diogenes brevirostris; sandshrimp, Palaemon pacificus; black mussel, Choromytilus meridionalis; and limpet, Patella granularis). These animals were kept under identical metal-enriched conditions, hence eliminating differences in method and seasons. The study animals belonged to different phyla; varied in size, mass, age, behavior, food requirements and life stages; and accumulated metals at different rates. It is possible to link unseasonal moulting in crustacea, a known physiological effect due to a metal-enriched environment, to the production of the metal-binding protein without evidence of obvious metal body burden. Thus a new concept of pollution is defined: the presence of metal-binding proteins confirms toxic metal pollution. This concept was then tested under field conditions in the whelk Bullia digitalis and in metal-enriched grass.
- Research Organization:
- National Research Institute for Oceanology, Stellenbosch, South Africa
- OSTI ID:
- 5324965
- Journal Information:
- Environ. Health Perspect.; (United States), Journal Name: Environ. Health Perspect.; (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
METALLOPROTEINS
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
METALS
WATER POLLUTION
CONTAMINATION
CRABS
LOBSTERS
METALLOTHIONEIN
MOLLUSCS
SHRIMP
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ARTHROPODS
CRUSTACEANS
DECAPODS
ELEMENTS
INVERTEBRATES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
PROTEINS
560304* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology- Invertebrates- (-1987)