US EPA

1573193 

Journal Article 

NMR-Based Metabolomic Investigations on the Differential Responses in Adductor Muscles from Two Pedigrees of Manila Clam Ruditapes philippinarum to Cadmium and Zinc 

Wu, H; Liu, X; Zhao, J; Yu, J 

2011 

1 

Marine Drugs
ISSN: 1660-3397
EISSN: 16603397 

9 

9 

1566-1579 

22131959 

10.3390/md9091566 

WOS:000298927500010 

Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum is one of the most
important economic species in shellfishery in China due to its wide geographic distribution and
high tolerance to environmental changes (e. g., salinity, temperature). In addition, Manila clam
is a good biomonitor/bioindicator in ""Mussel Watch Programs"" and marine environmental
toxicology. However, there are several pedigrees of R. philippinarum distributed in the marine
environment in China. No attention has been paid to the biological differences between various
pedigrees of Manila clams, which may introduce undesirable biological variation in toxicology
studies. In this study, we applied NMR-based metabolomics to detect the biological differences in
two main pedigrees (White and Zebra) of R. philippinarum and their differential responses to
heavy metal exposures (Cadmium and Zinc) using adductor muscle as a target tissue to define one
sensitive pedigree of R. philippinarum as biomonitor for heavy metals. Our results indicated that
there were significant metabolic differences in adductor muscle tissues between White and Zebra
clams, including higher levels of alanine, glutamine, hypotaurine, phosphocholine and homarine in
White clam muscles and higher levels of branched chain amino acids (valine, leucine and
isoleucine), succinate and 4-aminobutyrate in Zebra clam muscles, respectively. Differential
metabolic responses to heavy metals between White and Zebra clams were also found. Overall, we
concluded that White pedigree of clam could be a preferable bioindicator/biomonitor in marine
toxicology studies and for marine heavy metals based on the relatively high sensitivity to heavy
metals. 

Ruditapes philippinarum; heavy metal; biomonitor; NMR; metabolomics