Integrated Genomic and Bioinformatics Approaches to Identify Molecular Links between Endocrine Disruptors and Adverse Outcomes

Jacopo Umberto Verga, Matthew Huff, Diarmuid Owens, Bethany J. Wolf, Gary Hardiman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
161 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC) has been linked with several adverse outcomes. In this review, we examine EDCs that are pervasive in the environment and are of concern in the context of human, animal, and environmental health. We explore the consequences of EDC exposure on aquatic life, terrestrial animals, and humans. We focus on the exploitation of genomics technologies and in particular whole transcriptome sequencing. Genome-wide analyses using RNAseq provides snap shots of cellular, tissue and whole organism transcriptomes under normal physiological and EDC perturbed conditions. A global view of gene expression provides highly valuable information as it uncovers gene families or more specifically, pathways that are affected by EDC exposures, but also reveals those that are unaffected. Hypotheses about genes with unknown functions can also be formed by comparison of their expression levels with genes of known function. Risk assessment strategies leveraging genomic technologies and the development of toxicology databases are explored. Finally, we review how the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) has exploited this high throughput data to provide a framework for toxicology studies.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere574
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 05 Jan 2022

Keywords

  • Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC)
  • DNA microarrays
  • RNA sequencing
  • Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP)
  • Molecular Initiating Event (MIE)
  • Key Events (KE)
  • risk assessment

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