Assessment of heavy metal contamination using real-time PCR analysis of mussel metallothionein mt10 and mt20 expression: A validation along the Tunisian coast

In mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis tissues, metallothionein belongs to two different gene classes, mt10 and mt20, showing differential expression at both basal conditions and under heavy metal challenge. In this study, a new more highly sensitive technique, expression analysis of mt10 and mt20 mRNA levels by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, was used to assess the effects of heavy metal contamination in the digestive glands of mussels caged along the Tunisian coast. To validate the new assay, total metallothionein protein, amount of heavy metals (zinc, copper, cadmium), and a biomarker of oxidative stress such as malondialdehyde content, were assessed in the same tissues. At the investigated sites, the molecular assay showed variations of mt20 relative gene expression levels within one or two orders of magnitude, with maximum values at two sites severely polluted with cadmium, Mahres (100-fold) and Menzel Jemile (165-fold). Changes in mt10 expression were recorded at all sites where copper had significantly accumulated, although fold induction levels were less pronounced than those of mt20. In this paper, gene expression data are discussed in relation to the studied biomarkers, demonstrating that the molecular technique based on the differential expression of mt10 and mt20 genes represents (i) a useful and robust tool for studying and monitoring heavy metal pollution under field conditions, and (ii) an improvement in the application of metallothionein as a biomarker of response to exposure to heavy metals in marine mussels.