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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are common environmental pollutants that originate from the incomplete combustion of organic materials. We investigated the clastogenicity and mutagenicity of benzo[ b ]fluoranthene (BbF), one of 16 priority PAHs, in MutaMouse males after a 28-day oral exposure. BbF causes robust dose-dependent increases in micronucleus frequency in peripheral blood, indicative of chromosome damage. Duplex Sequencing (DS), an error-corrected sequencing technology, reveals that BbF induces dose-dependent increases in mutation frequencies in bone marrow (BM) and liver. Mutagenicity is increased in intergenic relative to genic regions, suggesting a role for transcription-coupled repair of BbF-induced DNA damage. At higher doses, the maximum mutagenic response to BbF is higher in liver, which has a lower mitotic index but higher metabolic capacity than BM; however, mutagenic potency is comparable between the two tissues. BbF induces primarily C:G>A:T mutations, followed by C:G>T:A and C:G>G:C, indicating that BbF metabolites mainly target guanines and cytosines. The mutation spectrum of BbF correlates with cancer mutational signatures associated with tobacco exposure, supporting its contribution to the carcinogenicity of combustion-derived PAHs in humans. Overall, BbF's mutagenic effects are similar to benzo[ a ]pyrene, a well-studied mutagenic PAH. Our work showcases the utility of DS for effective mutagenicity assessment of environmental pollutants. Synopsis: We used Duplex Sequencing to study the mutagenicity of benzo[ b ]fluoranthene across the mouse genome. Dose-dependent changes in mutation frequency and spectrum quantify its role in PAH-induced carcinogenicity.

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The notion that adverse health effects produced by exposure to environmental contaminants (EC) may be modulated by the presence of non-chemical stressors is gaining attention. Previously, our lab demonstrated that cross-fostering (adoption of a litter at birth) acted as a non-chemical stressor that amplified the influence of developmental exposure to EC on the glucocorticoid stress-response in adult rats. Using liver from the same rats, the aim of the current study was to investigate whether cross-fostering might also modulate EC-induced alterations in hepatic gene expression profiles. During pregnancy and nursing, Sprague-Dawley dams were fed cookies laced with corn oil (control, C) or a chemical mixture (M) composed of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), organochlorine pesticides (OCP), and methylmercury (MeHg), at 1 mg/kg/day. This mixture simulated the contaminant profile reported in maternal human blood. At birth, some control and M treated litters were cross-fostered to form two additional groups with different biological/nursing mothers (CC and MM). The hepatic transcriptome was analyzed by DNA microarray in male offspring at postnatal days 21 and 78-86. Mixture exposure altered the expression of detoxification and energy metabolism genes in both age groups, but with different sets of genes affected at day 21 and 78-86. Cross-fostering modulated the effects of M on gene expression pattern (MM vs M), as well as expression of energy metabolism genes between control groups (CC vs C). In conclusion, while describing short and long-term effects of developmental exposure to EC on hepatic transcriptomes, these cross-fostering results further support the consideration of non-chemical stressors in EC risk assessments.

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Mutations in germ cells pose potential genetic risks to offspring. However, de novo mutations are rare events that are spread across the genome and are difficult to detect. Thus, studies in this area have generally been under-powered, and no human germ cell mutagen has been identified. Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of human pedigrees has been proposed as an approach to overcome these technical and statistical challenges. WGS enables analysis of a much wider breadth of the genome than traditional approaches. Here, we performed power analyses to determine the feasibility of using WGS in human families to identify germ cell mutagens. Different statistical models were compared in the power analyses (ANOVA and multiple regression for one-child families, and mixed effect model sampling between two to four siblings per family). Assumptions were made based on parameters from the existing literature, such as the mutation-by-paternal age effect. We explored two scenarios: a constant effect due to an exposure that occurred in the past, and an accumulating effect where the exposure is continuing. Our analysis revealed the importance of modeling inter-family variability of the mutation-by-paternal age effect. Statistical power was improved by models accounting for the family-to-family variability. Our power analyses suggest that sufficient statistical power can be attained with 4-28 four-sibling families per treatment group, when the increase in mutations ranges from 40 to 10% respectively. Modeling family variability using mixed effect models provided a reduction in sample size compared to a multiple regression approach. Much larger sample sizes were required to detect an interaction effect between environmental exposures and paternal age. These findings inform study design and statistical modeling approaches to improve power and reduce sequencing costs for future studies in this area.

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In this study, the accuracy of the assumption that genotoxic, carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) act via similar mechanisms of action as benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), the reference PAH used in the human health risk assessment of PAH-containing complex mixtures, was investigated. Adult male Muta™Mouse were gavaged for 28 days with seven individual, genotoxic PAHs. Global gene expression profiles in forestomach, liver, and lung (target tissues of exposure) were determined at 3 days post-exposure. The results are compared with our previously published results from mice exposed to BaP via the same exposure regimen. Although all PAHs showed enhanced ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity, DNA adduct formation, and lacZ mutant frequency in the lungs, the unsupervised cluster analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed that the transcriptional changes are both PAH- and tissue-specific, with lung showing the most response. Further bioinformatics-/pathway-based analysis revealed that all PAHs induce expression of genes associated with carcinogenic processes, including DNA damage response, immune/inflammatory response, or cell signaling processes; however, the type of pathways and the magnitude of change varied for each PAH and were not the same as those observed for BaP. Benchmark dose modeling showed transcriptomic data closely reflected the known tumor incidence for the individual PAHs in each tissue. Collectively, the results suggest that the underlying mechanisms of PAH-induced toxicity leading to tumorigenesis are tissue-specific and not the same for all PAHs; based on the tissue type considered, use of BaP as a reference chemical may overestimate or underestimate the carcinogenic potential of PAHs.

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The widespread use of mobile phones has led to public concerns about the health effects associated with exposure to radiofrequency (RF) fields. The paramount concern of most persons relates to the potential of these fields to cause cancer. Unlike ionizing radiation, RF fields used for mobile telecommunications (800-1900 MHz) do not possess sufficient energy to directly damage DNA. Most rodent bioassay and in vitro genotoxicity/mutation studies have reported that RF fields at non-thermal levels have no direct mutagenic, genotoxic or carcinogenic effects. However, some evidence has suggested that RF fields may cause detectable postexposure changes in gene expression. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the ability of exposure to a 1.9 GHz pulse-modulated RF field for 4 h at specific absorption rates (SARs) of 0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 W/kg to affect global gene expression in U87MG glioblastoma cells. We found no evidence that non-thermal RF fields can affect gene expression in cultured U87MG cells relative to the nonirradiated control groups, whereas exposure to heat shock at 43 degrees C for 1 h up-regulated a number of typical stress-responsive genes in the positive control group. Future studies will assess the effect of RF fields on other cell lines and on gene expression in the mouse brain after in vivo exposure.

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Meiotic crossovers detected by pedigree analysis in the mouse MHC cluster into hotspots. To explore the properties of hotspots, we subjected the class II E(beta) gene to high-resolution sperm crossover analysis. We confirm the presence of a highly localized hotspot 1.0-1.6 kb wide in the second intron of E(beta) and show that it is flanked by DNA which is almost completely recombinationally inert. Mice heterozygous for haplotype s and another MHC haplotype show major haplotype-dependant variation in crossover rate but always the same hotspot, even in crosses including the highly diverged p haplotype. Crossovers in reciprocal orientations occur at similar rates but show different distributions across the hotspot, with the position of centre points in the two orientations shifted on average by 400 bp. This asymmetry results in crossover products showing biased gene conversion in favour of hotspot markers from the non-initiating haplotype, and supports the double-strand break repair model of recombination, with haplotype s as the most efficient crossover initiator. The detailed behaviour of the E(beta) hotspot, including evidence for highly localized recombination initiation, is strikingly similar to human hotspots.

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Despite widespread industrial release of genotoxic contaminants, little is understood of their role in inducing germline mutations in natural populations. We used multilocus DNA fingerprinting to quantify germline minisatellite mutations in families of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) in three nesting categories: (a) near cities with large steel mills operating coking ovens; (b) near cities without steel mills; and (c) in rural locations removed from point sources of contamination. Gulls nesting near integrated steel mills showed significantly higher mutation rates than gulls from rural locations (Fisher's exact, P=0.0004); urban sites without steel mills fell midway between steel and rural sites (difference from rural; Fisher's exact, P=0.19). Distance of the nesting location of herring gulls from the steel industries' coking ovens was negatively correlated with minisatellite mutation rate demonstrating significant risk for induced germline mutations in cities with steel operations (Kendall Tau; tau=0.119; P<0.0001).

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Genotoxins, such as polycyclic aromatic compounds, are ubiquitous in urban and industrial environments. Our understanding of the role that these chemicals play in generating DNA sequence mutations is predominantly derived from laboratory studies with specific genotoxins or extracts of contaminants from environmental media. Most assays are not indicative of the germinal effects of exposure in situ to complex mixtures of common environmental mutagens. Using multilocus DNA fingerprinting, we found the mutation rate in herring gulls inhabiting a heavily industrialized urban harbor (Hamilton Harbour, Ontario) to be more than twice as high as three rural sites: Kent Island, Bay of Fundy; Chantry Island, Lake Huron; and Presqu'ile Provincial Park in Lake Ontario. Overall we found a mutation rate of 0.017 +/- 0.004 per offspring band in Hamilton, 0.006 +/- 0.002 at Kent Island, 0.002 +/- 0.002 from Chantry Island, and 0.004 +/- 0.002 from Presqu'ile Provincial Park. The mutation rate from the rural sites (pooled) was significantly lower than the rate observed in Hamilton Harbour (Fisher's exact test, two-tailed; P = 0.0006). These minisatellite DNA mutations may be important biomarkers for heritable genetic changes resulting from in situ exposure to environmental genotoxins in a free-living vertebrate species.

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