HEAVY METAL-INDUCED MOLECULAR RESPONSES IN THE EARTHWORM, LUMBRICUS-RUBELLUS GENETIC FINGERPRINTING BY DIRECTED DIFFERENTIAL DISPLAY

Earthworms are widely exploited as test organisms to assess terrestria l pollution. However, it has been shown that some earthworm population s can tolerate heavy metal concentrations well above the critical conc entration known to induce lethal effects in more typical populations. By fingerprinting amplified messenger RNA (mRNA) species by the techni que of directed differential display, it has been possible to pinpoint genes up-regulated in a population of earthworms adapted to exception ally high levels of heavy metals. The full characterisation of these g enes will further our understanding of the mechanism(s) involved in he avy metal tolerance in earthworms and thus make it possible to validat e current toxicity tests. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.