Reproductive and germ-cell mutagenic effects of poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to Caenorhabditis elegans after multigenerational exposure

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of globally ubiquitous persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The developmental and reproductive toxicity of PFAS have attracted considerable attention. However, the influence of PFAS exposure on genomic stability of germ cells remains unexplored...

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Published in:The Science of the total environment 2024-12, Vol.954, p.176224, Article 176224
Main Authors: Cao, Zhenxiao, Dai, Linglong, Li, Jiali, Zhang, Jingyi, Wang, Xialian, Xu, An, Du, Hua
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Caenorhabditis elegans
Germ cell mutagenicity
Multigenerational exposure
PFAS
Whole genome sequencing
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Summary:Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of globally ubiquitous persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The developmental and reproductive toxicity of PFAS have attracted considerable attention. However, the influence of PFAS exposure on genomic stability of germ cells remains unexplored. In this study, we evaluated long-term reproductive toxicity of environmentally relevant levels of four long-chain PFAS compounds: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, C8), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA, C9), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA, C10), and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS, C8), and examined their germ-cell mutagenicity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Our findings reveal that multigenerational exposure to PFAS exhibited minor impacts on development and reproduction of worms. Among all tested PFAS, PFNA significantly increased mutation frequencies of progeny by preferentially inducing T:A → C:G substitutions and small indels within repetitive regions. Further analysis of mutation spectra uncovered elevated frequencies of microhomology-mediated deletions and large deletions in PFOA-treated worms, indicating its potential activity in eliciting DNA double-strand breaks. This study provides the first comparative analysis of the genome-wide mutational profile of PFAS compounds, underscoring the importance of assessing germ-cell mutagenic actions of long-chain PFAS. [Display omitted] •PFNA exposure significantly increased germline mutation frequency in C. elegans.•The elevated frequencies of T:A → C:G transitions and indels in repeat regions suggest the disrupting effect of PFAS on DNA mismatch repair.•There is no clear relationship between mutagenicity of PFAS and their multigenerational toxicity.
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176224