Analytical-chemical assessment of environmental pollutants and metals and molecular genetic characterisation of xenobiotic metabolising genes/enzymes in the marine environment in the vicinity of international shipping routes

Analytical-chemical assessment of environmental pollutants and metals and molecular genetic characterisation of xenobiotic metabolising genes/enzymes in the marine environment in the vicinity of international shipping routes

Professor Ole Andersen, cand. scient. (M.SC.), dr.med. (MD).
The Institute of Science, Systems and ModelsBiology and Chemistry at , Roskilde University, Denmark.

There is increasing focus on the spread, fate and impact of man-made pollutants in the environment.  In the course of the Galathea 3 expedition, we shall therefore be collecting sediment samples and seabed dwelling animals, primarily mussels and snails, which are stationary and able to serve the function of environmental indicators through passive absorption of pollutants, for assessment of global pollution of the marine environment. Comparison of loadsdoses of pollutants like TBT from antifouling paints used on ships, heavy metals, phthalates, PCBs, brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in samples from international shipping routes and marine territories adjacent to densely populated coastal areas with loadsdoses in samples from pristine territories will offer a general gauge by which to measure the environmental impact of marine transport and other human activities. If the Galathea expedition collects samples from very deep waters, it will be of great interest to analyse the same pollutants as those found in materials from shallower depths, as the degree of pollution in deep waters far from coastal territories is, to some extent, unknown. The concentration levels of certain essential metals are far higher in animals living at great depths than those living at the surface level. It is therefore of great interest to analyse the trace element status in animals collected at great water depths, as knowledge of this topic is virtually non-existent. During the collection of fauna to characterise their load of pollutants, tissue samples, animals will furthermore be frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored so that they may later be used for molecular/genetic and physiological/biochemical examination of their metabolic system,  to characterise their contents of pollutants, a field in which detailed knowledge currently encompasses mostly higher species of animals, while it is exceedingly limited concerning invertebrates.