The Maipo River in Chile is considered to be highly
polluted. Within the river lives a species of fish known as Basilichthys
microlepidotus in which different
populations occupy either polluted or non polluted areas of the river. A study
was done to investigate if environmental pollution is related to phenotypic or
genotypic selection. To find this, a transcriptomics approach based on RNA seq
was used to determine differentially expressed genes from the populations
living in polluted areas versus non polluted areas. The results showed that in
one population from a polluted site there was an unregulated gene found related
to suppression and progression of tumors, while in another population from a
polluted site there was an unregulated gene related to function of apoptotic
was over expressed. These results showed a plastic response in expression due
to anthropogenic pollution.
The article from Nature can be found here
Sam
(Nature review 1/3)
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