Chemosensory mediated behaviors and gene transcription profiles in wild yellow perch (Perca flavescens) from metal contaminated lakes.

The olfactory system of fish is sensitive to the toxic effects of low concentrations of contaminants. To investigate the effects of long-term metal exposure on olfaction in wild yellow perch (Perca flavescens), fish from one clean (Geneva Lake) and two metal-contaminated lakes (Ramsey and Hannah lakes) were collected in and around the metal-mining district of Sudbury, ON. Two different techniques were used to measure the effects of exposure to environmental contamination: (i) behavioral responses were recorded in response to conspecific skin extract and (ii) gene transcription differences in olfactory rosettes were characterized using a novel, 1000-candidate gene yellow perch microarray. Behavioral assays performed on fish from the clean lake demonstrated avoidance of a conspecific skin extract, while fish from metal contaminated lakes showed no avoidance response. A total of 109 out of the 1000 genes were differentially transcribed among the lakes. Most of the differentially transcribed genes were between the two metal contaminated lakes relative to either of the contaminated lakes and the reference lake. No genes were differentially expressed between Geneva Lake (clean) and Hannah Lake (metal contaminated). These results demonstrated that even though the different populations of fish from both Hannah and Ramey lakes were affected at the behavioral level, the impairment of olfaction was not measurable using gene transcriptional changes in olfactory rosettes.