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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Amy Bowman, Professor Mark Birch-MachinORCiD
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Due to life history and physiological constraints, cetaceans (whales) are unable to avoid prolonged exposure to external environmental insults, such as solar ultraviolet radiation (UV). The majority of studies on the effects of UV on skin are restricted to humans and laboratory animals, but it is important to develop tools to understand the effects of UV damage on large mammals such as whales, as these animals are long-lived and widely distributed, and can reflect the effects of UV across a large geographical range. We and others have used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) as a reliable marker of UV-induced damage particularly in human skin. UV-induced mtDNA strand breaks or lesions accumulate throughout the lifespan of an individual, thus constituting an excellent biomarker for cumulative exposure. Based on our previous studies in human skin, we have developed for the first time in the literature a quantitative real-time PCR methodology to detect and quantify mtDNA lesions in skin from sun-blistered whales. Furthermore the methodology allows for simultaneous detection of mtDNA damage in different species. Therefore using 44 epidermal mtDNA samples collected from 15 blue whales, 10 fin whales, and 19 sperm whales from the Gulf of California, Mexico, we quantified damage across 4.3 kilobases, a large region of the -16,400 base pair whale mitochondrial genome. The results show a range of mtDNA damage in the skin of the three different whale species. This previously unreported observation was correlated with apoptotic damage and microscopic lesions, both of which are markers of UV-induced damage. As is the case in human studies, this suggests the potential use of mtDNA as a biomarker for measuring the effect of cumulative UV exposure in whales and may provide a platform to help understand the effects of changing global environmental conditions. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. and Mitochondria Research Society. All rights reserved.
Author(s): Bowman A, Martinez-Levasseur LM, Acevedo-Whitehouse K, Gendron D, Birch-Machin MA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Mitochondrion
Year: 2013
Volume: 13
Issue: 4
Pages: 342-349
Print publication date: 01/07/2013
Online publication date: 11/04/2013
Acceptance date: 04/04/2013
ISSN (print): 1567-7249
ISSN (electronic): 1872-8278
Publisher: Elsevier BV
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mito.2013.04.003
DOI: 10.1016/j.mito.2013.04.003
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